Dred Scott's Personal Fight for Freedom Led to the Abolition of Slavery in the US

Born around 1800, Scott migrated westward with his master, Peter Blow, from his home state of Virginia to Alabama. In 1830, Scott moved on with Peter Blow to St Louis, Missouri, and within two years his master died. Scott was subsequently bought by an Army Surgeon, Dr John Emerson and over the next two years he moved to Illinois and then on to a fort in Wisconsin Territory. While there, Scott met and Married Harriett Robinson, a slave owned by the local Justice of the Peace. Ownership of Robinson was then transferred to Emerson.

Due to Scott's extended stay in Illinois, a free state, this gave him the legal standing to make a claim for freedom however, Scott did not take advantage of this at the time. After two years the Army transferred Emerson to the South; first to St .Louis and then on to Louisiana wherby he summoned his two slaves to join him which was a trip of over 2000 miles. The couple travelled unaccompanied down the Mississippi River to meet their master. It was only two years later and after Emersons death his widow hired Scott out to an Army Captain, Scott seeked freedom for both himself and his wife. Scott offered Mrs Emmerson to buy their freedom for $300, this was refused, and Scott resorted to seek freedom through the courts.

In April 6th, 1846, Dred Scott and his wife Harriett filed suit against Irene Emerson for their freedom. There are many arguments as to why Scott chose this particular time to file for his freedom however it is known that the suit was brought for personal and not political reasons. The Missouri courts at the time supported the doctrine "once free, always free" however, Dred Scott had no money, was unable to read nor write and needed assistance with this suit. The Blow family, his original owners, backed him financially and with the support of his wife and friends he engaged in a complex legal battle that lasted for almost eleven years.

Scott went to court in June of 1847, but lost on a technicality; "he could not prove that he and his wife were owned by Emerson's widow." Dred Scott was not about to give up on his liberty easily and in the year 1854, with the help of a new legal team of lawyers who abhorred slavery, Dred Scott filed suit in St Louis Federal Court against John F.A. Sanford, Mrs. Emerson's brother and executor of the Emerson estate. The case was decided in favor of Sanford however Scott appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On March 6th 1857 the decision of the court was reached which stated that because" Scott was black, he was not a citizen and had no right to sue". This decision was well-received by slave owners in the South however, the Northerns were outraged.

It was through the eleven year court hearings for Scott's freedom and the consequent media coverage the final decision of the court greatly influenced the nomination of Abraham Lincoln to the Republican Party and his subsequent election, which led to the South's secession from the Union. The Dred Scott decision moved the country to the brink of Civil War. Ironically, Irene Emerson remarried in 1850 to Calvin C.Chaffee, a northern congressman totally opposed to slavery. The new Mrs Chaffee then turned Dred, Harriett and their two daughters over to the Blow's, who purchased the family and gave them their freedom in 1857.

Scott died nine months later on September 17th,1858, of tuberculosis and was interred in St Louis. His grave was later removed to a Calvary Cemetary in 1860 in Norther St Louis and marked due to the efforts of Reverend Edward Dowling in 1957. Scott died a free man and did not live to see the war touch off in Fort Sumter in 1861 however he did live to gain his freedom. Dred Scott could not have imagined that his own personal fight for freedom from slavery which commenced way back in 1846 could ultimately result in the abolition of slavery throughtout the entire United States. His tombstone is small and insignificant for such a brave man who shaped the future of abolition of slavery in the U.S.