- The South thought the decision was a license to travel in the North with their slaves, and perhaps even spread the institution of slavery into free states.
- The Abolitionists were infuriated, and the North generally was baffled and frustrated, leading Lincoln and Douglas to argue this question in a series of public debates.
- The Supreme Court declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, and held Congress had no right to regulate slavery in the states, nullifying federal anti-slavery legislation and hardening the political rivalry between North and South.
- With federal agreements canceled, the territories planning to join the Union had to decide by popular vote whether to become a free state or slave state. This lead to such extreme violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions that Kansas earned the nickname "Bloody Kansas."
- The case played a major role in precipitating the Civil War. The Supreme Court's decision stirred deep‐seeded emotions in the already heated battle of race relations in the United States.
- The Dred Scott decision explicitly denied state and federal citizenship to all African-Americans and ended the "once free, always free" standard courts applied to emancipate slaves who had lived in free territory.
- The Court interpreted the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment literally, declaring a man's property was sacred and could not be taken without due process (and compensation). According to Chief Justice Taney, slaves were property and could not be emancipated even if living on free soil.
Case Citation:
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 US 393 (1857)
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