13.1c The Dred Scott decision
In the case of Dred Scott Versus Scandford (1857), the Supreme gave the ruling that a Negro could not become a citizen of the U.S. It was laid down by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney that the term "citizen" was never meant to include African Americans, who thus could not claim any rights under the Constitution. The Missouri compromise was also declared to be unconstitutional by Taney, as it denied property rights to slave owners.
Exhibit 13.1
Dred Scott
13.1d The Emancipation Proclamation and the Abolition of Slavery
After the Civil War (1861-1865) began, the issue of slavery was also added on to the initial objective the war. The war had originally begun on the point of whether states could withdraw from the union. It was the Northern states that brought the issue over slavery into the picture. President Lincoln issued an Emancipation Proclamation, a war measure in 1863.
Though the Southern states readily accepted the abolition of slavery as a result of the war, slavery was really abolished only after the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. This amendment provided that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction." The Southern states were required to accept this condition if they wished to be readmitted into the Union.
|
