The Dred Scott Case

Sanford’s Arguments

1. The restrictions on slavery and the Missouri Compromise were invalid because Congress did not have the authority to decide the issue of slavery in the territories.

2. Scott’s traveling to Illinois Territory did not, therefore, make him a free man.

3. Scott’s return to Missouri, a slave state, meant that since he had never been a free man, he kept his status as a slave.

Source: Herda, The Dred Scott Case: Slavery and Citizenship