In the run up to the Civil War Dred Scott became the unlikely focal point of the nation, a slave who dared challenge his being a slave, only to be told by the United States Supreme Court that he had "no rights that a white man was bound to respect." In other words, he was not a person. The truth spoken in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, did not apply to him. And since he had no rights, he could be denied anything, including his own life, as so many of his race commonly...
In the run up to the Civil War Dred Scott became the unlikely focal point of the nation, a slave who dared challenge his being a slave, only to be tol...