Commentaries by Chris Wester

On March 6, 1857, the US Supreme Court announced its landmark decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, holding that black people—slaves as well as free—were not and could never become citizens of the United States and that the 1820 Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Learn more about the Dred Scott case from Washington University in St. Louis (the city where Dred Scott initially filed his suit for freedom and had his case first tried). Review a selection of contemporary newspaper editorials reacting to the decision.