First Statue In U.S. Honoring Dred Scott Unveiled Friday In St. Louis

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June 8, 2012

From PR Newswire

According to the online Dred Scott history exhibit at Washington University in St. Louis:

Dred Scott, a slave whose suit for freedom led to one of our most important Supreme Court decisions ever.

“Dred Scott, a slave aged some 50 years, and his wife Harriet, petitioned for their freedom in 1846. The Scotts’ two trials, in 1847 and 1850 in Missouri, instigated a series of complex events which resulted in a Supreme Court decision, and ultimately hastened the onset of the American Civil War.”

The Dred Scott Decision inspired Abraham Lincoln to run for president. According to historians, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were a result of the Dred Scott Decision and the Civil War.

Read more here.

Learn more about the case.

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