Bad Judgment

On this day in 1857, the Supreme Court of the United States delivered their decision in the Dred Scott versus Sandford case. The court ruled against Scott and essentially ruled that slaves were not citizens of the United States. Slaves could not bring suit in Federal courts and limited the Federal government's role in regulating slavery in states established after the adoption of the Constitution. It was considered a major setback for abolitionists. While Chief Justice Roger Taney hoped that the ruling would settle the slave question, it helped prepare the way for the Civil War.

It is important to keep in mind that slavery was a legal institution under the Constitution of the United States. The court was upholding a Constitutionally protected institution that existed prior to the founding of the nation. Many legal scholars debate whether the court rendered the correct judgment. However, they approach the question with modern morality that abhors slavery (most of the time). But prior to the American Civil War the morality of slavery varied across the country. A significant number of Americans supported slavery as beneficial and necessary. Slavery was affirmed as legal, moral, and justifiable by the Constitution, public opinion, and the Supreme Court. Not everyone agreed with that. The Dred Scott case mobilized abolitionists, especially within the Republican party. The mobilization would eventually lift Abraham Lincoln to the White House and spark the Civil War.

Today we recognize that pro-slavery opinions were wrong. The Supreme Court only rules on what is legal under the Constitution, but they don't always rule on what is moral. Often the Supreme Court is considered the final arbiter. If Republicans had considered the Supreme Court the final arbiter in the 1850s, then slavery would have continued for several more decades. Many Americans recognized that the ruling of the Supreme Court was supporting something evil. They continued to work hard to end slavery in the United States. We should recognize that the Supreme Court and public opinion can be swayed to immoral positions that are acceptable to society. That does not make it right. Our standards for morality must come from a higher position and authority.