The “Dred Scott Decision” added fresh combustibles to the smouldering heap. Dred Scott, a slave, taken by his master into free Illinois, and then beyond the line of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, and then back into Missouri, sued for and obtained his freedom, on the ground that having been taken where, by the Constitution, slavery was illegal, his master lost all claim.
But the Supreme Court, on appeal, reversed the judgment, and Dred Scott, with his wife and children, was taken back into slavery.
FOOTNOTE:
[52] “Rendition of Thomas Simms.” Theodore Parker, p. 20, 1852.
CHAPTER XLI. RELIGIOUS STRUGGLES.
Caste, the natural product of slavery, did not stop at the door of the sanctuary, as might be presumed that it would, but entered all, or nearly all, of the Christian denominations of our country, and in some instances even pursued the negro to the sacramental altar. All churches had their “Negro-pew,” where there were any blacks to put into them. This was the custom at the South, and it was the same at the North.
As the religion of the country was fashioned to suit the public sentiment, which was negro-hating in its character, the blacks of the United States would have formed a poor idea of the Christian religion in its broadest sense, had not an inward monitor told them that there was still something better.
The first step towards the enjoyment of religious freedom was taken by the colored people of Philadelphia. This was caused by the unkind treatment of their white brethren, who considered them a nuisance in their houses of worship, where they were pulled off their knees while in the act of prayer, and ordered to the back seats. From these and other acts of unchristian conduct, the blacks considered it their duty to devise means of having a house for religious worship, of their own. Therefore, in November, 1787, they seceded from the Methodist Church, in Philadelphia, formed a society, built a house to meet in, and set up for themselves.