Dred Scott

Dred Scott Paper

By Todd Bennett

Ultimately this book is about according to Professor Maltz’s own words, a “colossal judicial failure.” It is also an example of judicial activism gone awry and the resulting fuse that it can light. Because the Southern jurists on the court found it necessary to intervene, the entire legal treatment of slavery the country had carefully developed was turned on its head. Professor Maltz creates an engaging and thought provoking read by examining the hubris, egoism, and political capital involved in the parties. The reader is introduced to a large cast of characters, including the key litigants, and we are treated to a glimpse or old fashioned stubbornness and intransigence. The entirety of the thesis of judicial failure is summed up with several key points.

First, the Dred Scott decision was an event in American history that had impacts far greater than just that of one man or even one precedent. It laid the groundwork for continuing struggle on the part of African Americans even after being emancipated to gain opportunities for education, employment and even housing. Rather than quell the burgeoning freedom movement, the shortsightedness of the Taney court fueled it. These effects would last well into the twentieth century reaching a flash point in the 1960’s over such issues as bussing and rights to be in a public venue. Secondly, the decision marks a watershed moment for the United States in that it represented a sort of cultural bottom even at the highest levels of the judiciary. But the great beauty of our nation is that it has always been able to redeem itself and to evolve.

Dred Scott was a man that knew but 9 months of freedom throughout his entire life. Born in 1800 as a slave he was owned by a man named Peter Blow and migrated from Alabama to St. Louis, Missouri by his thirtieth year. When Blow died in 1832, Scott became the property of a St. Louis surgeon by the name of John Emerson. By 1836 Scott was now...