Explain the significance of the Dred Scott Supreme Court case. What issues were debated and what was the Court's ruling?

The Dred Scott Decision outraged abolitionists, who saw the Supreme Court's ruling as a way to stop debate about slavery in the territories. The divide between North and South over slavery grew and culminated in the secession of southern states from the Union and the creation of the Confederate States of America.

By the time the U. S. Supreme Court handed down its Dred Scott decision, Irene had married her second husband, Calvin Chaffee, a U. S. congressman and abolitionist. Upset upon learning his wife still owned the most infamous slave of the time, he sold Scott and his family to Taylor Blow, the son of Peter Blow, Scott's original owner.

Taylor freed Scott and his family on May 26, 1857. Scott found work as a porter in a St. Louis hotel, but didn't live long as a free man. At about 59 years of age, Scott died from tuberculosis on September 17, 1858.

The Dred Scott Decision outraged abolitionists, who saw the Supreme Court's ruling as a way to stop debate about slavery in the territories. The divide between North and South over slavery grew and culminated in the secession of southern states from the Union and the creation of the Confederate States of America. The Emancipation Proclamation of September 22, 1862 freed slaves living in the Confederacy, but it would be another three years until Congress passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States