1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello. Hello, everyone, Welcome to this Day in 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,719 Speaker 1: History Class, where we bring you a new tidbit from 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: history every day. Today is April six, nineteen. The day 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: was April sixty. Dread and Harriet Scott, an enslaved husband 6 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: and wife in St. Louis, Missouri, each filed a petition 7 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: to get their freedom from slavery. At the time, pro 8 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: slavery and anti slavery factions were at odds with each other, 9 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: and the federal government was forced to draw a line 10 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: through the nation that separated free areas and slave areas. 11 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: Missouri was a slave state, but it did have laws 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,200 Speaker 1: that if an enslaved person went to a free state 13 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: or became free, then that person was forever considered free. 14 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: So there were paths to freedom for people who were enslaved, 15 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: even though they were considered the property of their owners. 16 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 1: A Missouri statute allowed a person who was wrongfully enslaved 17 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,199 Speaker 1: to sue for their freedom. Dread and Harriet had spent 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: a considerable amount of time in free territories, and on 19 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: this basis, they argued that they were being hailed as 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,400 Speaker 1: slaves wrongfully. I recognized the irony, as if a person 21 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: could be rightfully enslaved either way. The Scots sued for 22 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: their freedom, and though their suit was unsuccessful, Dread Scott's 23 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court became a landmark 24 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: case and brought the nation closer to Civil war. Dredd 25 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: Scott was born in Virginia around sevent The history of 26 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: Scott's ownership from the time of his birth is fuzzy, 27 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: but it is clear that eventually Peter Blow and Elizabeth 28 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: Taylor Blow were Dreads owners. By eighteen thirty, the Blow family, 29 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: in their six slaves, had moved from Virginia to Alabama 30 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: to St. Louis in Missouri, when they ran a boarding 31 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: house called the Jefferson Hotel. Dread went with the family 32 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: to St. Louis, but soon after they moved, Elizabeth and 33 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: Peter Blow died again. The details are unclear, but Dread 34 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: was sold to doctor John Emerson, an assistant surgeon in 35 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: the U. S. Army. As Emerson traveled to various military posts, 36 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: he took Dread with him even if he was entering 37 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: free territory, and that he did. He went into Illinois 38 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: and Wisconsin territory. By the terms of the Northwest Ordinance 39 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: of seventeen eighty seven. Slavery was illegal in areas between 40 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: the Mississippi and Ohio River and the Great Lakes, except 41 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: as punishment for crimes. Illinois state constitution also largely prohibited slavery. 42 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: In the eighteen twenty Missouri Compromised outlawed slavery north of 43 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:58,119 Speaker 1: thirty six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, except within 44 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: the boundaries of the state of Missouri. The judicial standard 45 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: in Missouri was once free, always free, which meant that 46 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: enslaved people taken to free areas remained free even if 47 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: they returned to Missouri. It was during his time with 48 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: Emerson at Fort Smelling in Wisconsin Territory or modern day Minnesota, 49 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: when he met Harriet Robinson. Dread and Harriet married around 50 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six or thirty seven, and they eventually had 51 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie. When Emerson and his wife 52 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: Irene moved a few different places, Dread and Harriet were 53 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: hired out to other people, and after Emerson's death, Dread 54 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: and Harriet were hired out to Samuel Russell, the owner 55 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: of a wholesale grocery. There was a precedent for enslaved 56 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: people suing for their freedom in Missouri based on the 57 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: aforementioned statute, but it wasn't until eighteen forty six when 58 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: Dredd and Harriet Scott decided to follow the path other 59 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: enslaved people had and filed suits against Irene Emerson in 60 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: the St. Louis Circuit Court. Dread might have waited until 61 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: this time to file a petition because he was unhappy 62 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: with his family being hired out, because Irene was planning 63 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: on selling his family, or because he had offered to 64 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: buy his family's freedom and was turned down. But what's 65 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: well documented is that Dread and Harriet filed a petition 66 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: to sue for their freedom based on their residence in 67 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: Free Territory on April six, with the support of their minister, 68 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: John Anderson and the Blow family, which had become involved 69 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: in abolition even though they still owned slaves. John M. 70 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: Crumb accepted their petition and Irene pleaded not guilty to 71 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: charges of unlawful imprisonment and assault and battery on June seven, 72 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: more than a year after the Scots filed their petitions, 73 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: Irene Emerson won the case, which was dismissed on the 74 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: technicality of Dread being unable to prove Irene owned him. 75 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: The judge Alexander Hamilton's granted Dread a new trial, and 76 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: in the second trial on January twelfth, eighteen fifty the 77 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 1: jury ruled that the Scots and their daughters were free. 78 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: Of course, that didn't sit well with Irene Emerson, who 79 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty eight had put the Scots in the 80 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: sheriff's custody. She appealed the case to the Missouri State 81 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: Supreme Court, which reversed the lower court's decision in eighteen 82 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: fifty two. Dread then sued Irene's brother, John F. A. Sanford, 83 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: and lost the suit once again. The issue of slavery 84 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: was already a controversial one at the time, but Drett 85 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: Scott's subsequent appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court pretty 86 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,919 Speaker 1: much set off a time bomb. In the Supreme Court 87 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,799 Speaker 1: case Drett Scott versus Stanford, which began on February eleventh, 88 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,599 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, the court rule that free African Americans 89 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: are not citizens and therefore cannot sue in federal court. 90 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: It also found that enslaved people had no rights, and 91 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: as Scott was a slave, had no right to suits 92 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: in Federal Court. In addition to these major decisions, the 93 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: Court said that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and Congress 94 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: could not stop slavery from spreading into Western territories. The 95 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: Scots were eventually sold to the Blow family and freed, 96 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: but many of the debates leading up to the Civil 97 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,159 Speaker 1: War regarding the maintenance and spread of slavery centered around 98 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: the dread Scott decision. I'm Eve Jeff Coote and hopefully 99 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,039 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 100 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: did yesterday, and if you'd like to learn more about 101 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: dread Harriet in their family and the Supreme Court cases, 102 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: listen to the two part episode of Stuffy missed in 103 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: history class called Dread Scott Versus Stanford. If you have 104 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: any burning questions or comments to tell us, you can 105 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at T D 106 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: I h C Podcast. Thanks again for listening, and I 107 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: hope you come back tomorrow for more delicious morsels of history.