Reply #175: Holy Cow! Dred Scott? Is that true?

[tclambert]

It is! Confirmed on Wikipedia, the article on "Dred Scott v. Sandford" says: "The Missouri cases were argued at the St. Louis State and Federal Courthouse (now called the "Old Courthouse"), part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the "Gateway Arch")."

For those who are Supreme Court challenged (Sarah, pay attention now), Dred Scott was a slave whose master took him to live in "free territory" (Wisconsin) for many years. When his master brought him back to Missouri and passed away, Dred Scott, aided by abolitionists, sued for his freedom, on the grounds that he had lived in a free state for so long. The case started right there, a few hundred paces from where Barack Obama addressed the crowd. The Supreme Court eventually took on the case in 1857, finding against Dred Scott, and ruling that no former slave or descendant of a slave could be a citizen of the United States.

The 13th and 14th Amendments overruled this decision.

The historical significance of Barack Obama standing in that place, running for President . . . wow, . . . just wow!

Thank you so much for pointing this out.