Scott, Dred — Benjamin C. Howard | "No Rights Which the White Man was Bound to Respect"

(Scott, Dred) — Benjamin C. Howard

A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of The Judges Thereof, in the case of Dred Scott versus John F. A. Sandford. December Term, 1856. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1857

8vo (233 x 145 mm). Engraved portraits of Dred and Harriet Scott from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 27 June 1857 inserted on lined blue paper, portrait of Scott's daughters pasted on page 633, a few early ink annotations; scattered browning and light soiling. Contemporary half maroon diced russia over marbled boards, red title label to spine, original printed wrappers bound in; loss to head-piece, extremities rubbed. 

First edition, one of two simultaneously printed editions.

Dred Scott was a slave who lived from 1834 to 1838 in Rock Island, Illinois (where slavery was prohibited by the Ordnance of 1787) and Fort Snelling, Wisconsin Territory (where slavery was prohibited by the Missouri Compromise). In 1846 Scott sued for his freedom because of his stay in a free state and free territory. The Supreme Court's decision that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Scott's residence in free territory had not made him free greatly accelerated sectional hostility. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the opinion of the Court, and while the decision was not a major factor in the commencement of the Civil War, it certainly damaged the credibility of the Court's legal objectivity in the North.

REFERENCE

Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions 31; Grolier, American 68; Howes S218; Sabin 33240