The Dred Scott Decision and Sectional Strife

About this episode

This episode discusses the implications of the Dred Scott decision and its impact on American politics and society.

The Dred Scott decision of 1857 went well beyond the question of whether or not Dred Scott gained his freedom. Instead, the Supreme Court delivered a far-reaching pronouncement about African Americans in the United States, finding they could never be citizens and that Congress could not interfere with the expansion of slavery into the territories. Republicans erupted in anger at this decision, which rendered their party’s central platform unconstitutional. Abraham Lincoln fully articulated the Republican position on the issue of slavery in his 1858 debates with Senator Stephen Douglas. By the end of that year, Lincoln had become a nationally known Republican icon. For the Democrats’ part, unity within their party frayed over both the Dred Scott case and the Freeport Doctrine, undermining the Democrats’ future ability to retain control of the presidency. All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/14-3-the-dred-scott-decision-and-sectional-strife Welcome to A Journey into Human History. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a…

People in this episode

Host: Miranda Casturo

Topics covered

• Dred Scott decision
• slavery
• Republican Party
• Democratic Party
• Supreme Court
• citizenship
• sectional strife

Keywords

• Dred Scott
• Supreme Court
• slavery
• Abraham Lincoln
• Republicans
• Democrats
• citizenship
• 1857
• 1858

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Supreme Court, Republicans, Democrats

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