Great Scott !! Traditional Geocache
maznroll: Great Scott, this is a high muggle area, to bad.
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(small)
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~Dred Scott's fight for freedom 1846-1857~ Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom in 1847. Ten years later after a decade of appeals and court reversals, his case was finally brought before the United States Supreme Court. In what is perhaps the most infamous case in its history, the court decided that all people of African ancestry -- slaves as well as those who were free -- could never become citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal court. They did not have the power to prohibit slavery in its territories. Scott, needless to say, remained a slave.~ Born around 1800, Scott migrated westward with his master, Peter Blow. They traveled from Scott's home state of Virginia to Alabama and then, in 1830, to St Louis, Missouri. Two years later Peter Blow died; Scott was subsequently bought by army surgeon Dr. John Emerson, who later took Scott to the free state of Illinois. In the spring of 1836, after a stay of two and a half years, Emerson moved to a fort in the Wisconsin Territory, taking Scott along. While there , Scott met and married Harriet Robinson, a slave owned by a local justice of the peace. Ownership of Harriet was transferrred to the Emerson.~ Scott's extened stay in Illinois, a free state,gave him the legal standing to make a claim for freedom, as did his extended stay in Wisconsin, where slavery was also prohibited. But Scott never made the claim while living in the free lands -- perhaps because he was unaware of his rights at the time, or perhaps because he was content with his master. Only after Emerson's death in 1843, after Emerson's widow hired Scott out to an army captain, did Scott seek freedom for himself and his wife. First he tried to buy his freedom for $300. witch failed, then Scott sought freedom through the courts.~ The decision of the court was read in March of 1857. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney -- a staunch supporter of slavery -- wrote the "majority opinion" for the court. It stated that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue. The decision also declared the Missouri Compromise of 1820, legislation which restricted slavery in certain territories, unconstitutional.~ While the decision was well-recieved by slaveholders in the south,many northerners were outraged. the decision greatly influenced the nomination of Abraham Lincoln to the Republican Party and his subsequent election, which in turn led to the South's secession from the Union. Peter Blow's sons, childhood friends of Scott, had helped pay Scott's legal fees through the years. After the Supreme Court's decision, the former master's sons purchased Scott and his wife and set them free.~ Dred Scott died nine months later.~Fort Snelling is noted because it was a post where John Emerson, Dred Scott's owner, worked. Emerson, who purchased Scott in St. Louis, lived with Dred and Harriet Scott at the fort during much of the 1830s. At the time, slavery was illegal at Fort Snelling due to the Missouri Compromise; Dred and Harriet's time in Minnesota led to the infamous U.S. Supreme Court case.~ So finally 'Dred Scott' the name this park is named after.~
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