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Captive Passage
has been made
possible in part by:
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The Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott v Sanford - As the institution of slavery in the United States seemed never ending, more and more blacks attempted to use legal means to gain their freedom. When Dred Scott, a slave born in Virginia, was taken by his owner from Missouri into the free states of Illinois and Minnesota to live for four years, Scott sued for his freedom when they returned to Missouri on the premise that he had become a free man while living on free soil.
On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were not citizens of the United States and therefore had no rights that a white man was required to respect. The case caused outrage in the North and jubilation in the South. The New York Tribune wrote that the court "has draggled and polluted its garments in the filth of pro-slavery politics." For many, the case brought the country closer to a civil war.
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