LAD #18 Dred Scott Decision

The Supreme Court met for the Dred Scott case to decide the "larger issues of Negro citizenship and the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise". They questioned whether "A Negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guaranteed by that instrument to the citizen?" Taney decided that a black American could not sue because they had no rights to begin with. For the Missouri Compromise he said that citizens in those territories could not be denied their rights guaranteed by the Consititution. He made it clear that there was "no distinction between the slaves and other types of property" meaning slaves were considered property not citizens. The Missouri Compromise was then decided unconstitutional because it denied people their property which is guaranteed in the Constitution. The case was dimissed for a lack of jurisdication and Scott remained a slave.