Political Quotes

“Today marks a tragic anniversary in American history. It was on this day in 1857 that the Supreme Court of the United States handed down the now famous Dred Scott v. Sandford ruling, saying that Dred Scott, a black man born into slavery but living in a free State, was not a United States citizen and could not sue for his freedom in Federal court. In a 7-2 ruling handed down by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a former slave owner from Maryland, the court found that the black man was not a person under the Constitution; that he was property and not a person; and that as such, he was both prohibited from bringing suit against any citizen in Federal court and was made subject to the fifth amendment of the Constitution which prohibits taking property from its owner without 'due process.' The court said that all blacks, slaves as well as free, were not and could never be citizens of the United States, and determined that blacks 'had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his,' the white man's, 'benefit.' By that one ruling, nearly 4 million slaves living in America were deemed by an erudite judiciary as less than human, unworthy to be protected; and it took an entire Civil War to reverse the tragedy of that decision.”