1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to STUFH you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. We've had 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: kind of a running theme of landmark Supreme Court decisions 5 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,880 Speaker 1: on the show. Yeah, they come up from time to time. Yeah, 6 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: we have not gotten to possibly the most notorious one 7 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: in all of United States history, which is Dread Scott 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 1: versus Sandford that was decided in eighteen fifty seven. So 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: I had already put this episode on the schedule to 10 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,479 Speaker 1: record today when by coincidence, it suddenly became very timely 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 1: because I en the U. S. Supreme Court issued its 12 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: decision in Trump versus Hawaii, which upheld Proclamation Number that's 13 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: the revised travel band that restricts entry into the United 14 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: States from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and 15 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: yeah in and in response to that decision, Representative Keith 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: Ellison of Minnesota compared the decision in Trump versus Hawaii 17 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: to Dread Scott, and then so did David D. Cole 18 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 1: of the a c l U, who wrote an editorial 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: that was published in the Washington Post that brought up 20 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: both dread Scott and Karamatsu versus United States, and we 21 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: talked about that one in our episode on Executive Order 22 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: ninety six. So suddenly searching dread Scott on Google was 23 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: bringing up thousands of news headlines instead of history sites 24 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: and archives of Supreme Court decisions. But the facts of 25 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: this case itself are unchanged, you be, in spite of 26 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: all that news coverage. So rather than shelving the topic 27 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: for later as for some reason too much of a 28 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: hot button, we're going to stick to my original plan. 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: Talk about the court decision that ruled the enslaved Africans 30 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: and their descendants weren't and could never be citizens of 31 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: the United States, whether they were free or not. And 32 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: we're also going to talk about the people who were 33 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 1: seeking their freedom in this case, because it wasn't just 34 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: about dread Scott. A lot of times summed up as 35 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: like dread Scott was enslaved and he was suing for 36 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: his freedom. It was also about his wife, Harriet and 37 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: their daughters, Eliza and Lizzie. And this is an accidentally 38 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: a two parter, so we're going to talk about it 39 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: for two episodes. Accidental two parter Uh. To get back 40 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: to the more serious matter of the story, we know 41 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: very little about dread Scott's background. He was born sometime 42 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: around eighteen hundred in Virginia, probably in Southampton County, and 43 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: his earliest owners that we know about were Peter Blow 44 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Taylor Blow, who were planters, but it is 45 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: not clear whether he was enslaved to them from birth 46 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: or whether they purchased him sometime later. By eighteen eighteen, though, 47 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: dread Scott was definitely part of the blows enslaved workforce, 48 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: and eighteen eighteen that's when the Blows moved to Alabama, 49 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: where they continued to work in agriculture. They moved with 50 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: their six children and with several enslaved people, including dread Scott. 51 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: While living in Alabama, the Blows also had two more children. 52 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: Then in eighteen thirty, the Blows decided to give up farming. 53 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: They moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where they opened a 54 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: boarding house known as the Jefferson Hotel, and they took 55 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,519 Speaker 1: some of their enslaved labor force with them, once again, 56 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: including dread Scott. Elizabeth Blow died in eighteen thirty one 57 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: and Peter Blow died the next year and around the 58 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: time of Peter Blow's death, dread Scott was sold to 59 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: doctor John Emerson. There's no surviving documentation of this sale, 60 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: and we don't really know whether Peter Blow handled it 61 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: himself before he died or whether his heirs handled it 62 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: as part of his estate after his death. One of 63 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: the Blow sons, Henry Taylor Blow, testified in court that 64 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: his father had sold dread Scott, but there's not a 65 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: paper trail to back it up, and the timeline actually 66 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: suggests that the transaction might have taken place later, after 67 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: Peter Blow had died. Dr Emerson was a surgeon. In 68 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: his background is also a little bit unclear. He got 69 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in eighteen 70 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: twenty four, and it seems as though he was either 71 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,119 Speaker 1: born in Pennsylvania or that he immigrated there from Ireland, regardless, 72 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: though as far as we know, he lived and worked 73 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania for most of his life before entering the u. S. 74 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: Army is a surgeon. In eighteen thirty three, he was 75 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,600 Speaker 1: deployed to Fort Armstrong, Illinois, which is referred to as 76 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: Rock Island in court documents. Emerson probably purchased dread Scott 77 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: in St. Louis on the way to Illinois to act 78 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: as his personal servant and to provide manual labor on 79 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: a land claim that Emerson staked out for a cabin. 80 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 1: It was extremely common for army officers to take slaves 81 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: with them to the forts and outposts where they were stationed. 82 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: Often these were in very remote locations without any sort 83 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: of white community or settlement, to provide a civilian labor 84 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,599 Speaker 1: force to handle things like cooking and laundry and manual labor. 85 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 1: This practice included taking enslaved people into places where slavery 86 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: was outlawed under state law or under the terms of 87 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: the Northwest Ordinance or the Missouri Compromise eies so as 88 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 1: a quick refresher, The Northwest Ordinance was passed in seventy seven. 89 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: It established a government for the territory northwest of the 90 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: Ohio River, along with a process for how parts of 91 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: that territory could be admitted to the Union as states. 92 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: And the Northwest Ordinance was clear on the subject of slavery. Quote, 93 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 1: there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the 94 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof 95 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: the party shall have been duly convicted. The Northwest Ordinance 96 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: did allow for fugitive slaves to be returned to their owners, 97 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: though the Missouri Compromise was past in eighteen twenty, and 98 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: we have talked a lot about it on the show, 99 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: particularly in our episode about the Honey War. The Missouri 100 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: Compromise allowed Missouri to be admitted into the Union as 101 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: a slave state, while Maine was also admitted as a 102 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: free state. To preserve the balance between the slave and 103 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: the free states, the Missouri Compromise declared that slavery and 104 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: involuntary servitude other than in punishment for a crime, would 105 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: not be permitted in territory that was north of thirty 106 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude. So Emerson was 107 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 1: being sent to Fort Armstrong, Illinois, where slavery had previously 108 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: been outlawed under the Northwest Ordinance and was also mostly 109 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: outlawed in the state constitution when Illinois joined the Union 110 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighteen. Although there were a number of exceptions, 111 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: Illinois didn't fully outlost slavery except in the punishment for 112 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: a crime, until eighteen forty eight, after many of the 113 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: events in these episodes that were doing had already happened, 114 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,840 Speaker 1: but in spite of that prohibition. Dr Emerson was taking 115 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: an enslaved person with him, as were other people that 116 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: were stationed there. Emerson probably stopped in St. Louis specifically 117 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: to buy a slave, or made it a point to 118 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: do it while he was already in St. Louis for 119 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: other reasons. Since it sits along the Mississippi River, St. 120 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: Louis was one of the easiest cities to reach from 121 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: a lot of the nation's more remote territory. It was 122 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 1: a frequent stopping point on the way to the frontier, 123 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: so the city had a really thriving slave trade, selling 124 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: enslaved Africans to members of the military as they either 125 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: passed through or came back to Missouri for that purpose. 126 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: Emerson was not from a slave state. Pennsylvania had passed 127 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:24,320 Speaker 1: a gradual emancipation law in March of seventeen eighteen, and 128 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: by the time Emerson finished medical school there were fewer 129 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: than two hundred people still enslaved in the state. It 130 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: doesn't seem as though he was from a slave owning family, 131 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: and as far as we know, dread Scott is the 132 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: only person he ever enslaved. There are questions about whether 133 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,040 Speaker 1: he later enslaved Scott's wife and children, and we're going 134 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: to get to those in just a bit. So this 135 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: is not at all to be extremely clear to suggest that, oh, 136 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: he only enslaved one person, so it wasn't that bad. 137 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: It's more that slave states had a whole system of 138 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,679 Speaker 1: social order that revolved around slavery, and it dictated how 139 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 1: white people enslave. He was behaved around each other. But 140 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: Emerson had grown up in Pennsylvania, where slavery was not 141 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,360 Speaker 1: nearly as much of a visible daily presence as it 142 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: was in the Slave States, and this almost certainly affected 143 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: how he treated dread Scott in some ways. The amount 144 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: of autonomy and respect that Emerson granted to Scott was 145 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: more in line with what would be extended to a freeman, 146 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: but legally, Scott was still definitely Emerson's property. Emerson remained 147 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: at Fort Armstrong until it was abandoned on May fourth, 148 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty six. At that point, he was transferred to 149 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: Fort Snelling in Wisconsin Territory in what's now Minnesota, which 150 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: was at the time free territory. We'll get to that 151 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: part after a sponsor break Today, Fort Snelling, Minnesota is 152 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,680 Speaker 1: practically next door to Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, but 153 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty six it was pretty much in the 154 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: middle of nowhere. As we said before the break, there 155 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: were no white settlements anywhere nearby. Most of the indigenous 156 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: peoples in the area were also nomadic, and they didn't 157 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: have permanent settlements or seasonal camps near the fort either. Also, 158 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: the United States being at war with a lot of 159 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: the indigenous population during this time would have made that 160 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: an unlikely workforce if such a community had existed. That's 161 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,559 Speaker 1: really an understatement, and it's also a whole other topic 162 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: outside the scope of these episodes. Virtually everyone in Fort 163 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: Snelling was a soldier and officer, an officer's wife, or 164 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: an enslaved African, and nearly all of the officers enslaved 165 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: at least one person. Most of the enslaved Africans had 166 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: been brought along with officers from their previous postings enslave 167 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: states and territories, or they had been purchased in St. Louis. 168 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: It was at Fort Snelling that dread Scott met Harriet Robinson, 169 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: who was also from Virginia. She was enslaved to Major 170 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: Lawrence Tolliver. Tolliver was the Indian Agent for the Upper 171 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: Mississippi Valley region. The Indian Agent was a government official 172 00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:05,440 Speaker 1: who acted as a liaison between the United States government 173 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: and the indigenous population. Tolliver was also the Justice of 174 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: the Peace, and the title Major was really honorific. He 175 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: had served in the military, but he resigned when he 176 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: was appointed Indian Agents. Everybody still called him major, but 177 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: he was not an actual major anymore. In eighteen thirty 178 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: six or eighteen thirty seven, when Harriet was about seventeen 179 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: and Dread was about forty, they got married. They had 180 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:34,679 Speaker 1: an actual civil ceremony officiated by Major Tolliver. It was 181 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: not common at all for enslaved people to have a 182 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: formal and legally recognized marriage, nor was it common at 183 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: all for a Justice of the Peace to officiate a 184 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: marriage between enslaved people. This was so unusual that a 185 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: number of historians have argued that by performing this civil marriage, 186 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: Tolliver was recognizing Harriet and possibly also Dread as free. Yeah, 187 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: the Justice of the Peace just just did not perform 188 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: marriages of enslaved people. Like enslave people weren't regarded as 189 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: having any kind of right to marriage, and marriages between 190 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 1: enslaved people were not legally sanctioned in any way, so 191 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: this was highly unusual. Yeah. When we've talked about enslaved 192 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: people getting married on the podcast before, it is usually 193 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: a quiet, private affair. It certainly does not usually involve 194 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,680 Speaker 1: their owners in any way, let alone inefficient. Yeah, and 195 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,839 Speaker 1: even if their owners are involved in some way, it's 196 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: not usually something that affords any kind of legal status 197 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: or protection in anyway. So this was like, this was 198 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: not what normally happened at all. After their wedding, Harriet 199 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 1: and dread Scott lived together as a married couple, with 200 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: both of them working for Dr Emerson. But it's really 201 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 1: not clear whether Emerson considered Harriet to be his property. 202 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: Like we said, it's not clear whether Tolliver was essentially 203 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: freeing her with this whole marriage that he officiated. But 204 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: Emerson did not stay in Fort Snelling for very long 205 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: after that. He been asking for a transfer to St. 206 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: Louis for quite some time, and that transfer was finally granted. 207 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: He left on October thirty seven. In warm weather, people 208 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,080 Speaker 1: typically traveled between St. Louis and Fort Snelling by steamboat, 209 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: but by October of eighteen thirty seven. The Upper Mississippi 210 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: River was already frozen over in a lot of places, 211 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: so to get to his much requested new assignment, Emerson 212 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: had to travel by sled and canoe. It was not 213 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,719 Speaker 1: feasible for him to take the Scots with him, so 214 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: he left them behind. Although he seems to have left 215 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,680 Speaker 1: them essentially unsupervised, they almost certainly continued to work for 216 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: other officers at the fort during this time. This is 217 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,840 Speaker 1: one of several places in the Scots Lives that people 218 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: ask why they didn't take this opportunity to escape. After all, 219 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: Dr Emerson was gone, and they had also been given 220 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: some degree of autonomy. They both had the freedom to 221 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: come and go from the fort as long as they 222 00:12:56,679 --> 00:12:59,439 Speaker 1: got all of their work done. In this case, the 223 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: answer is really simple. This was a remote part of 224 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: Wisconsin territory in late October. If they had left, they 225 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,560 Speaker 1: would have had nowhere to go. Getting to the nearest 226 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: permanent settlement would have required days of hard travel through 227 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: frigid weather with really little to survive off of on 228 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: the way. It also wasn't likely that they would have 229 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: been able to find refuge with the area's indigenous peoples 230 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: who were facing rampant hunger and poverty. At about this 231 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: same time, an enslaved woman named Rachel, who had been 232 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: at Fort Snelling, successfully sued for her freedom in St. Louis. 233 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: The Scots, especially Harriet, probably heard about this, but it 234 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: would be almost ten years before they filed a similar 235 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: suit themselves. Soon after arriving in St. Louis, dr Emerson 236 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:48,719 Speaker 1: was transferred to Louisiana. There he met and married Eliza 237 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 1: Irene Sandford, who was known as Irene, and in thirty 238 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: eight he sent for the Scots to join him and 239 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: his new wife in Louisiana. Once the Mississippi River had thawed, 240 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: the Scots traveled by steamboat to Louisiana, going from free 241 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: to slave territory, and by this point Harriet was pregnant. 242 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: But almost immediately after the Scots arrived in Louisiana territory, 243 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: Emerson turned them all around and went back to St. 244 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: Louis and from there back to Fort Snelling again. Harriet 245 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: Scott gave birth to a daughter, Eliza, aboard the steamboat 246 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: on the way there, north of the dividing line between 247 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: slave and free territory that was set down in the 248 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 1: Missouri Compromise. As a side note, we don't know who, 249 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: if anyone, Eliza Scott was named for. A lot of 250 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: people assume it was for Dr. Emerson's new wife, but 251 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: the Scots knew a lot of Elizabeth's, including another enslaved 252 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: woman at Fort Snelling. It could have been in some 253 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: way for all of those Elizabeth could have been for 254 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: none of the Elizabeth. They might have just liked nicknames 255 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:55,320 Speaker 1: for Elizabeth. Yeah. Uh, that's one of those things where 256 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: I always feel like it's a decision that you can't 257 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: ever really know, because you can't unrevel a person's thought 258 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: process back to where it begins. So it's hard to 259 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: just define and say, oh, it was named well, maybe well, 260 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: and the the assumption that they named their baby after 261 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: their owner's new wife is kind of gross, Like it 262 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:19,840 Speaker 1: if that's documented somewhere, that's fine, But the fact that 263 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: so many people just assume, oh, they must have named 264 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: the baby for their owner's new wife, Like that's kind 265 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: of a gross assumption to make, even without all of 266 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: the layers of grossness of slavery involved. Just assuming people's 267 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: intentions and naming their children is weird to me. So 268 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: then to add on to it, all of that gross layering. 269 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 1: I'm like, what, why why you got to do that? Um? 270 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: The next winter, Dr Emerson arranged for the Scots to 271 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: have their own quarters at Fort Snelling, including their own stove. 272 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: It was once again not common at all for enslaved 273 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: people to have their own quarters, and stoves were in 274 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: very short supply. They were so scarce that when Emerson 275 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: asked for one for the Scots, the quartermaster refused, and 276 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: in the ensuing argument, the quartermaster punched Emerson in the face. 277 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: Emerson left and then came back and threatened the quartermaster 278 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: with his pistols. This ultimately led to Emerson being arrested, 279 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: but he did get that stove for the Scots. This 280 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: is another thing people point to that suggests that at 281 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: Fort Snelling, Emerson and others may have considered the Scots 282 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: to be free. Getting into a fist fight about a 283 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: stove for your enslave workforce was also not what would 284 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: be expected of a white person. So on May nine, 285 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: eighteen forty, Dr. Emerson was transferred to Florida because the 286 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: ongoing Seminole Wars, along with nearly all the other military 287 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: personnel at Fort Snelling in the four years since the 288 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: Scots had first arrived in Wisconsin Territory, the fort had 289 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 1: become a little less remote. A collection of squatter cabins 290 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 1: had been built up around it. But at the same 291 00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 1: time that the government cleared out the fort for the 292 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: Seminar Wars, it also decided to evict all the squatters 293 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,119 Speaker 1: and burned out all the cabins. The burning of the 294 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,680 Speaker 1: cabins meant that the Scots would have nowhere to stay 295 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,679 Speaker 1: if they'd tried to stay behind, they also would have 296 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: had no way to support themselves there, so once again 297 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: they had little choice but to travel south into slave 298 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: territory with the Emerson's. They got to St. Louis, where 299 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: they stayed with Mrs Emerson and We're also hired out 300 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 1: to work for other people. In St. Louis. The Scots 301 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 1: had another daughter, Lizzie. They had also had two sons 302 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: who did not survive infancy. For the next few years, 303 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: the Scott family were all together in St. Louis. They 304 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: made friends, including reconnecting with some of the Blow family, 305 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 1: and that was the people that had owned Dread Scott 306 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: from the time he was young, possibly from his birth. 307 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: By this point, the Blow family was kind of full 308 00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: of contradictions. Several of them had made connections among St. 309 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:57,719 Speaker 1: Louis's abolitionist community, but some of them also continued to 310 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: own slaves themselves. Some of the those daughters had also 311 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: married into prominent, affluent families. All these connections, though in 312 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,960 Speaker 1: spite of all their contradictions, would eventually help the Scott's 313 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: sue for their freedom, and the Blow family would help 314 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: finance their court cases. Harriet also joined the Second African 315 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: Baptist Church of St. Louis. It isn't clear if Dread 316 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: was a member, but their church family was a source 317 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: of support for their eventual legal fight as well. In 318 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:31,360 Speaker 1: eighty three, Dr Emerson died of tuberculosis. He had known 319 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: that he was dying, and he had written out a will. 320 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,119 Speaker 1: This will made no mention of Dread or Harriet Scott, 321 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: or their daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, and at first Emerson's 322 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: widow seems to have not freed them, but just sort 323 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,359 Speaker 1: of left them on their own. That was more like 324 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: she neglected them than that she let them go. But 325 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,160 Speaker 1: at some point Irene Emerson seems to have decided that 326 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: the Scots belonged to her, even though they were not 327 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,960 Speaker 1: mentioned in her husband's will. She started hiring out their 328 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:08,640 Speaker 1: labor to other people around St. Louis, and hiring out 329 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 1: was a common way for slave owners to make money. 330 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,640 Speaker 1: They would essentially rent out their enslaved workers and then 331 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 1: keep any money that they earned for themselves. It was 332 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 1: while working as hired labor that the Scots petitioned for 333 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: their own freedom, which we will talk about after a 334 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: sponsor break. In early nineteenth century Missouri, enslaved people were property, 335 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 1: but they were also, in a very limited sense, persons 336 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 1: with rights. There were laws on the books that, at 337 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,000 Speaker 1: least then theory, protected enslaved people from cruelty or murder, 338 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: and an enslaved person who was accused of a felony 339 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: was entitled to a jury trial. Obviously, whether these laws 340 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: were enforced totally a different subject, and whether that trial 341 00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: would have been fair definitely in question, but those laws 342 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: that exist, and a person who was wrongfully enslaved also 343 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: had the right to sue for freedom and court thanks 344 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,679 Speaker 1: to a law that had been passed in eighteen twenty four. 345 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:14,040 Speaker 1: Between eighteen twenty four and about eighteen forty, these sorts 346 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:17,439 Speaker 1: of lawsuits became fairly common, and it was also fairly 347 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,479 Speaker 1: common for them to be successful. Missouri law incorporated the 348 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 1: idea of once free, always free. If an enslaved person 349 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:30,120 Speaker 1: went or was taken to free territory or otherwise became free, 350 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: they stayed free. They did not become enslaved again if 351 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 1: they traveled into a slave state. This precedent was what 352 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: had allowed the woman named Rebecca, who had been enslaved 353 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: at Fort Snailing, to sue for her freedom, and Dread Scott, 354 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: along with his family, had lived in free territory. He 355 00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:50,640 Speaker 1: had been there for twelve years. This seemed like an 356 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: open and shut case, but by the early eighteen forties 357 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: the subject of slavery had become far more contentious nationwide. 358 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: Missouri had become a lot more hostile to black people 359 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 1: in general, and more fearful of the impact that a 360 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:10,399 Speaker 1: free black population might have on a slave society. In 361 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: eighteen forty, Missouri passed a law banning free black people 362 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,119 Speaker 1: from entering the state, and all black people already in 363 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: the state had to get a license to be there. 364 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: So by the time Dread and Harriet Scott each filed 365 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: a petition in the Circuit corner of St. Louis to 366 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: try to gain their freedom from Irene Emerson. The tide 367 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: had really turned against them in a lot of ways. 368 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: Successful suits for freedom were not nearly as common, and 369 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:40,200 Speaker 1: more and more laws were putting black residents, both free 370 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: and enslaved, at a disadvantage. They filed their petitions on 371 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: April six, eighty six, and by that point the Scott's 372 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,160 Speaker 1: position was no longer tenable. Dread Scott was fifty, which 373 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,880 Speaker 1: was considered elderly for an enslaved person. The average life 374 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: expectancy for enslaved men was not even thirty five. He 375 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: also had tuberculosis, and he really couldn't work any longer. 376 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,880 Speaker 1: His age and his health made him a liability, especially 377 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,680 Speaker 1: since Harriet, Eliza, and Lizzie were considered to be very 378 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: valuable enslaved property. Also, when Dr Emerson had been alive, 379 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,159 Speaker 1: he seems to have treated both Dread and Harriet with 380 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: some degree of autonomy and respect. But his widow had 381 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: been born in Virginia. She had been raised in the South. 382 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: Her family was generally very pro slavery, so Irene had 383 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: grown up in that entrenched social system that we mentioned earlier, 384 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 1: which had strict rules about how white people interacted with slaves. 385 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,480 Speaker 1: She clearly did not have the same approach to the 386 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,080 Speaker 1: Scots that her late husband had. Between eighteen forty three 387 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: and eighteen forty six, Irene Emerson hired the Scots labor 388 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:51,920 Speaker 1: out to a variety of other people in and around St. Louis, 389 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,120 Speaker 1: and it was clear that her income was a lot 390 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:58,200 Speaker 1: more important than their treatment. There's another factor that probably 391 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 1: encouraged the Scots to petition for freedom. Eliza Scott was 392 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: about eight, an age at which it was typical for 393 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 1: enslaved girls to be sold away from their families. Her 394 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: parents were probably motivated by the fear that if they 395 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: did not sue for their freedom now, they could be 396 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: permanently separated from her simultaneously. Petitioning for freedom was a 397 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: huge risk, even though at least before eighteen forty a 398 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: lot of the suits had been successful. That was a 399 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,399 Speaker 1: long and difficult process, and there was no guarantee that 400 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:31,919 Speaker 1: it would go their way. Enslaved people were also rarely 401 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,359 Speaker 1: released on their own recognizance. During these trials. They typically 402 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,200 Speaker 1: wound up either imprisoned during the proceedings or sent back 403 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: to the owners that they were trying to secure their 404 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:45,920 Speaker 1: freedom from. Even though the law theoretically protected people from 405 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 1: retaliation when they filed suit. Retaliation was still really common, 406 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:55,200 Speaker 1: so first Dread Scott offered to purchase himself and his family. 407 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: Irene Emerson refused. Harriet and Dread turned to the Blow 408 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: family and to their church congregation for help. Neither of 409 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: them could read or write, so this help involved everything 410 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: from finding legal representation to documenting their case to paying 411 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: for all of it. John M. Crumb of the St. 412 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,679 Speaker 1: Louis Circuit Court granted the Scott's petition to try to 413 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: seek their freedom. The Scott's daughters weren't included in the petition, 414 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: since if their mother was free, then they also were free. 415 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: Under the terms of that eighty four law quote, the 416 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: declaration shall be in the common form of a declaration 417 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 1: for false imprisonment, and shall contain an avernment that the 418 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 1: plaintiff before and at the end time of committing of 419 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: the grievances was and still is a free person, and 420 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,119 Speaker 1: that the defendant held and still holds him in slavery. 421 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: In other words, the petitioner had to prove they were free, 422 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: but that someone was imprisoning them falsely, and to that end, 423 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: Irene Emerson was indicted on charges of assault and battery 424 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: and unlawful imprisonment. She entered a not guilty plea. Because 425 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: of a series of fires and epidemics that Scott's actual 426 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: trial didn't take place for more than a year. At 427 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: the trial, the Scott's attorney F. B. Murdoch called witnesses 428 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: to establish that the Scots had lived for years in 429 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 1: Free Territory and that now in Missouri, Irene Emerson was 430 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: enslaving them and hiring out their labor. A man named 431 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,639 Speaker 1: Samuel Russell testified that he had hired Dread Scott's labor 432 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:32,280 Speaker 1: from Emerson, but during cross examination, Russell testified that he 433 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:36,120 Speaker 1: had not personally made those arrangements. His wife had done 434 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,120 Speaker 1: it and he wasn't actually there to witness it when 435 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: she did. His testimony that he had hired the Scots 436 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: labor from Emerson was dismissed as hearsay. This was a 437 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: total shock to everyone, including the Scott's attorney. Russell's testimony 438 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,919 Speaker 1: under cross examination did not match up at all with 439 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,360 Speaker 1: what he'd said in an earlier deposition and what they 440 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: thought he would say on the stand. The jury issued 441 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: its verdict on June eighteen, forty seven. Quote the said 442 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: defendant is not guilty in manner and form as the 443 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: plaintiff Hath in his declaration complained against her. In other words, 444 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 1: Irene Emerson was not enslaving the Scots, and this was 445 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: really something of a technicality. If Emerson wasn't enslaving the Scots, 446 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 1: then they had no cause to petition for their freedom. 447 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:27,200 Speaker 1: The Scots got a new attorney, Samuel M. Bay. On 448 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: July seven, they filed a deposition that outlined all the 449 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 1: discrepancies in the earlier case. He submitted new testimony that 450 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:41,040 Speaker 1: proved that Emerson was enslaving the Scots, and he requested 451 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: a new trial. That request for a new trial was 452 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: granted by a judge named Alexander Hamilton's. When Irene Emerson 453 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,639 Speaker 1: tried to appeal Hamilton's decision to the Missouri Supreme Court, 454 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: she was denied. A whole second suit against Emerson was 455 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 1: also drawn up during this time period, but it was 456 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: dropped because it contained the same charges as the case 457 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,399 Speaker 1: that was being set up for a new trial. At 458 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: this point, Irene Emerson took the step of having the 459 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,399 Speaker 1: Scott family put in the sheriff's custody. The Scott family 460 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: remained in the custody of the St. Louis County Sheriff 461 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 1: from March seventeenth, eighteen forty eight, until March eighteenth, eighteen 462 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:22,439 Speaker 1: fifty seven. That is nine years. This didn't mean they 463 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: were imprisoned, though, it meant that the sheriff was the 464 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 1: one hiring them out and collecting their pay. The Scott's 465 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: case was retried on January twelve, eighteen fifty in the St. 466 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 1: Louis Circuit Court. This time the verdict was that Dread 467 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 1: and Harriet Scott were free, and since Harriet was free, 468 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: their daughters were as well. Scott had, by the jury's ruling, 469 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: been free since eighteen thirty three, when Dr Emerson first 470 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: took him to the Free State of Illinois. This could 471 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: have been the end of it. There would have been 472 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,959 Speaker 1: no Dread Scott versus Sanford, and since the Supreme Court's 473 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,960 Speaker 1: decision in Dread Scott versus Sanford pushed of United States 474 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: much closer to the Civil War. That could have radically 475 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,679 Speaker 1: altered the course of American history. But that wasn't the 476 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: end of it. We're going to talk about what happened 477 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,439 Speaker 1: next in our next episode of the podcast. Do you 478 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: have a little bit of listener mail to tie us 479 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 1: over before them I do. This is from Melixa. I 480 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: really hope I am pronouncing that right. Alexa Rights. I 481 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: have been listening to your podcast for the last three 482 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:26,719 Speaker 1: or four years. I teach history and I use your 483 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: program in some of my classes. I am Puerto Rican 484 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: currently living in New York and listening to your podcast 485 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: brought all kinds of memories of my childhood. My ninety 486 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: three year old grandma grew up in Lari's porto Ico, 487 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: not far from Utuado. Her family grew coffee and actually 488 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,880 Speaker 1: probably migrated from Spain because of the coffee bonanza in 489 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:47,959 Speaker 1: the second half of the nineteenth century. This was, of 490 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: course before so for them it was devastating. Their father 491 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: used to tell her that San Syriaco was so bad 492 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: that it even uprooted the sweet potatoes. Of course, I 493 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,120 Speaker 1: think this is an exaggeration passed on decades after the fact. 494 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: I guess it illustrates how bad it was for them. 495 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: San Felipe was bad, but not as bad as San Syriaco, 496 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: while Santa Clara, according to her father, was a breeze. 497 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: Thanks for doing amazing research. Thanks for your great job. 498 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: Thank you for sending this email. Uh, the sweet potato 499 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: crop might actually have been destroyed. Um, maybe not necessarily uprooted, 500 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: but with all of the flooding and landslides that went 501 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: on during Hurricane San Syriaco, it would have been very 502 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: easy for maybe not the entire sweet potato crop to 503 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: be destroyed, but like big parts of it. So that 504 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: might not be an exaggeration at all. So thank you 505 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: for sending us this note. If you would like to 506 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,160 Speaker 1: write to us about this or any other podcast or 507 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,959 Speaker 1: history podcasts at how stuffworks dot com and they were 508 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: all over social media missed in History. 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