The Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott was a man who seemed consistent with society's definition of a black slave. However, this was not true for he was an articulate man who changed our society and American standards. In 1799 Dred Scott was born in Virginia as a slave of the Peter Blow family. He spent his life as a slave, and never learned to read or write. In 1830 the Blow family moved to St. Louis, part of the migration of people from the southern states of the eastern seaboard to the newer slave states of the Mississippi Valley. The Blows sold Dred Scott to Dr. John Emerson, a military surgeon stationed at Jefferson Barracks just south of St. Louis. Over the next twelve years Scott accompanied Emerson to posts in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where Congress prohibited slavery under the rules of the Missouri Compromise. During that time, Scott married Harriet Robinson, also a slave. The Scotts later had four children. The Scotts were not alone in their movement. …