On March 6, 1857, two days after Buchanan was inaugurated President of the United States, the famous Dred Scott case was decided.
Chief-Justice Taney of Maryland, Justices Wayne of Georgia, Catron of Tennessee, Daniel of Virginia, Campbell of Alabama, Grier of Pennsylvania, and Nelson of New York concurred in the decision, though some of them only in a qualified way.
Chief-Justice Taney read the opinion of the court.
Justices McLean of Ohio and Curtis of Massachusetts dissented on all points. All the justices read opinions at length.(93)
Chief-Justice Taney was a devout Roman Catholic, given much to letters, of great industry, and generally regarded as a great jurist. When the case was decided he was nearly eighty years of age, and he was then, in the distracted condition of the country, deeply imbued with the idea that the Supreme Court had the power to and could settle the slavery question.
All the other justices were eminent jurists and men of learning.
The decision reached marked an epoch in American history, and it gave slavery an apparent perpetual lease of life; this was, however, only apparent.
The case was twice argued by eminent lawyers; Blair and G. F. Curtis for Dred Scott, and by Geyer and Johnson for the defendant.
Dred Scott brought a suit in the United States Circuit Court in Missouri for trespass against one Sanford, charging him with assault on him, his wife, and two children—in fact, for his and their freedom.
The facts, as agreed, were as follows: