The Dred Scott Decision

Presented by Paul Goebbel, local Civil War historian. The story of Dred Scott is really 3 stories in 1. First is the story of Dred Scott struggling hard to gain his freedom. Second is about the U.S. Supreme Court and the limits of its power. And the third story is about the politics of slavery and the coming Civil War. The Court's decision sparked enormous political reaction and destroyed any chance of agreement between the North and South over slavery in the territories.