The Dred Scott v. Sandford case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 6, 1857, was a landmark ruling that deepened sectional divisions in the country and moved it closer to Civil War. In a 7–2 decision, the Court ruled that Dred Scott, a slave who had lived in free territories, was not entitled to his freedom. Furthermore, it determined that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, could never be U.S. citizens and that the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which restricted slavery in certain territories, was unconstitutional.
Legal scholars widely regard Scott v. Sandford as the Supreme Court’s worst decision, an instance where the judiciary wrongly attempted to resolve a political issue. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes later called it the Court’s great “self-inflicted wound.”
