The Dred Scott Decision with Dr. Dennis Boman

In 1846, a slave by the name of Dred Scott after several attempts to buy his own freedom from his master Eliza Sanford, sued. In one Missouri court Scott won his freedom but then in the appeals process pursued by Sanford, his liberty was taken away. Through a long process the case ended up before the US Supreme Court where a devastating decision delivered by Chief Justice Roger Taney in 1857 said that not only would Scott, his wife and children remain slaves, but in fact the rights of man as defined in the Declaration of Independence had never applied to those Americans of African descent.

Dr. Dennis Boman comes Back By the Woodpile to explain the days leading up to the monumental case in addition to its nuances and aftermath.