Dred Scott v. Sandford

In March of 1895 Dred Scott and his owner, John Sanford moved to Illinois which was a free state at the time. Due to the fact that  Scott was a slave in a free state he believed that he should have been able to declare emancipation from his owner. Scott brought his case to court to try to gain the freedom he believed he deserved. It was also argued on the side of Dred Scott that the North West Ordinance proved that he should be a freed slave. On the side of Sanford, it was argued that  he may have been a slave in a free state but was still owned in another state therefore he is still the property of that owner whoever they be. In the end Chief Justice Roger B. Taney decided in favor of John Sanford on the basis that no pure blooded African person, or their descendants, would ever be citizens of the United States and there for could not successfully grant him freedom.