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Dred Scott, an African American man who was born into slavery, wanted what all slaves would have wanted, their freedom. They were mistreated, neglected, and treated not as humans, but as property. In 1852, Dred Scott sued his current owner, Sanford, about him, no longer being a slave, but a free man (Oyez 1). In Article four of the Constitution, it states that any slave, who set foot in a free land, makes them a free man. This controversy led to the ruling of the state courts and in the end, came to the final word of the Supreme Court. Is he a slave or a free man? Being born into slavery meant that Dred Scott had been exchanged from owners to owners (Knappman 16-17). His first owner, the Blows, died, and before their death, they sold Scott to Dr. Emerson. Dr. Emerson soon gave Scott away to his wife’s brother, Sanford (Knappman 16-17). Scott tried to buy his freedom away from Dr. Emerson’s wife but she just wouldn’t accept (Dred Scott Decision 1). Since Scott moved from place to place as a slave, he was able to go to Illinois, which was a free state (Richie 40). Because of the Constitution, Scott used his rights to sue Sanford claiming that he was a free man (Richie 40). With this in mind, it lead to arguments about both parties, the prosecuted and the defendant. With the help of the antislavery lawyers, they were able to assist the prosecution, Dred Scott, with his court case (Dred Scott Decision 1). Unfortunately, in the first trial, Scott lost due to the reason of not having enough evidence (Dred Scott Decision 1). Scott, determined to get his freedom, was given the chance for a second trial (“Dred Scott Case Collection”). Their main argument, about Sanford violating his Fifth Amendment rights, made them win their case in their second trial (Justia 1). The Fifth Amendment mentions that a person’s life, liberty, or property cannot be taken away without due process of law. They were taking away Scott’s liberty, but he deserved to be free because he was taken to a free state (Dred Scott Decision 1). Does this whole controversy end there? With Sanford losing in the second trial, it did not just end there. Sanford’s sister, Mrs. Emerson, appealed and because of that, it went to the Missouri Supreme Court (“Dred Scott Case Collection”).
The evidence presented to myself and the other juror’s proves that Tyrone Washburn is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the murder of his wife, Elena Washburn. On March 12, 1979 Elena Washburn was strangled in the living room of her family’s home. Her body was then dragged to the garage, leaving a trail of blood from the living room to the place it was found. Her husband, Tyrone Washburn, found her in the family’s garage on March 13, 1979 at 1:45 A.M. When officer Dale Chambers arrived at the scene he found her lying face down in a pool of blood. The solid evidence in this case proves only one person, Tyrone Washburn, is guilty of murder.
and sold. His new master then moved to Illinois (a free state) for a while but soon moved back to Missouri. Upon his master's death, Scott claimed that since he had resided in a free state, he was consequentially a free man. The case eventually made it to the Supreme Court.
What is freedom? This question is easy enough to answer today. To many, the concept of freedom we have now is a quality of life free from the constraints of a person or a government. In America today, the thought of living a life in which one was “owned” by another person, seems incomprehensible. Until 1865 however, freedom was a concept that many African Americans only dreamed of. Throughout early American Literature freedom and the desire to be free has been written and spoken about by many. Insight into how an African-American slave views freedom and what sparks their desire to receive it can be found in any of the “Slave Narratives” of early American literature, from Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustav Vassa, the African published in 1789, to Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself which was published in 1845. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry and letters and Martin R. Delany’s speech Political Destiny of the Colored Race in the American Continent also contain examples of the African-American slaves’ concepts of freedom; all the similarities and differences among them.
David Walker was born in Wilmington, North Carolina on September 28, 1785. His father was a slave and his mother a free woman. In North Carolina the law during slavery was if a newborn African mother was free, that child would also be free. This law made it so that every newborn African would be free, no matter the status of their fathers. This was very fortunate for David Walker and his life. His mother passed on to him her free status and she also raised him to have a great opposition towards slavery. It is said that his father had a passed away before he was born, or while he was a young boy. Walker witnessed the brutality and horrors of slavery directly during his travels all over the South. Experiencing this contributed to him wanting to fight against the institution of slavery and its inhumane ways. At the age of thirty years old he moved aw...
		Lewis Latimer, the youngest child, attended grammar school and was an excellent student who loved to read and draw. Most of his time, though, was spent working with his father, which was typical of children in the 19th century. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that a slave named Dred Scott could not be considered a free man although he had lived in a free state. George Latimer disappeared shortly after the decision became known. Because he had no official papers to prove he was a free man, he possibly feared for his safety and that of his family.
The rights of Dwight Dexter in the Fifth Amendment were violated. The amendment prevents the government from prosecuting people unfairly. Accused cannot be jailed or have their property taken without due process
Johnson and his lawyers were dissatisfied with this decision and made an appeal to the Fifth Texas Supreme Judicial District. This appeal, made on May 8, 1985 would be titled as Texas vs. Johnson. The defense argued that Johnson was prosecuted in violation of the first Amendment, clearly states that no law may take away a person's freedom of speech or expression, and of the Bill of Rights and the free speech clause of the Texas Constitution. Johnson argued that in his opinion, flag burning is part of freedom o...
It should be noted that the Declaration of Independence made it clear that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Although this progressive view was shared by many of the members of the Constitutional Convention, it is clear that the original text of the American Constitution is rather pro-slavery and up to a certain point protects the slave-owners. It is of utmost importance to note that the words slavery/slave are not used in the text of the Constitution.
day, as well as the irony and hypocracy, that was especially evident on that day. He
“The right to have a slave implies the right in some one to make a slave; that right must be equal and mutual, and this would resolve society into a state of perpetual war.” Senator William Steward, an anti-slavery supporter, issued this claim in his “There is a Higher Law than the Constitution” speech. Steward, like all abolitionist, viewed all of man as equals. This equality came from the “higher law” that is the Bible. Since all men were created by God then all men were equals in God’s eyes. Abolitionist believed that whites had no more right to make a slave out of a African American than the African American had to make a slave out of a white man.
Furthermore, one of the interpretations of the slave's identity is as a child under the guardianship of the slave master. If this translation were correct, however, the slave should have the right of protection under the law. But as said before, state law claims that a slave is a thing and therefore warrants no protection. The laws of slavery in the 19th century were ambiguous to the point that no one legal definition of a slave or a slave's rights could be made according to the law. Both Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain experimented with this ambiguity of identity and the laws surrounding it in their novels Dred and Pudd'nhead Wilson.
...to transfer ownership of the Scotts to Taylor Blow, Peter Blow’s son and childhood friend of Dred. On May 26, 1857 Dred and Harriet were given their freedom by Taylor Blow. After Dred and his family were freed, they were interviewed and pictures of them were published in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper on June 27, 1840. As a free family Dred Scott worked at Barnum’s Hotel in St. Louis as a porter. Dred also delivered laundry that Harriet took in working as a free laundress for the people that they lived around.
Freedom has been the cause of wars, political movements, and centuries of debate. The concept of freedom is simple. Freedom is the right to act, speak, or think without hindrance. In our contemporary society, the right to freedom is so basic and innate we struggle to even fathom life without our basic rights. However, less than 200 years ago slavery was legal in the United States. Slavery is the antithesis to freedom, depriving people of the most basic rights and placing them at the whim of their owners. Frederick Douglas, possibly “the most famous and respected African American in the United States for much of the nineteenth century,” details his life as a slave in America (Douglas, 24). Douglas goes on throughout his autobiography to detail
Ambition, sensitivity, and a high degree of self-consciousness created in the young slave Douglass an unquenchable thirst for freedom and he became what every slave master feared, a smart and uppity Negro who would be content with nothing less than his freedom. A first attempt at escape ended in failure and with time in jail. The second attempt, however, was successful. He fled to New York City, where he married a free Negro woman with whom he moved to New Bedford. He was to date his freedom form September 3, 1838.
That being said, however, there were two different types of slave masters. The two forms were benign and demonic slavery. Benign slavery, while still being a form of slavery, was tolerable for slaves and in some instances even pleasant. Slaves were clothed, fed, and given basic rights. Under demonic slavery, however, slaves were subjected to being physically tortured and beaten. Eliza, under the rule of Master Shelby lived in benign slavery. Because they were kind slaveholders, Mrs. Shelby showed her distaste in her husband’s choice to sell Henry. It was demonic slaveholders that pressed for the passage of laws like the fugitive slave law in 1850. This law demanded the return of any runaway slaves. If a white person would claim a black person as a slave, that person would immediately be returned to the south as a slave even if they were a free man. This act also tore black families apart. Solomon Northup for example, was wrongly turned in as a slave and was kept away from his family for over 10 years. Eric Foner, a professor of history at Columbia University explained that it was disturbing to him “to remember that there were thousands of free born Americans who fled to Canada because their freedom could no longer be taken for granted in the United States” (PBS). It would have been easy for people like Senator Bird in Uncle Tom’s Cabin to pass a law such as the fugitive slave law because they most likely would never see