Freedom Denied, Freedom Gained

In 1854 Dred Scott, his wife Harriet, and a group of lawyers stood before the federal court in St. Louis, where their claim for freedom was rejected. Four years earlier, Dred and Harriet had sued for their freedom at the Old Courthouse and won, but the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that decision in 1852. The Scott family appealed the verdict of the trial held here to the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, but they were again denied freedom. A few months later, the Peter Blow family, descendants of Dred Scott's former owner, purchased the Scott family and gave them their freedom. The case, first heard in St. Louis, fueled the fire that would ignite the Civil War. The Scotts first sued for their freedom in St. Louis at the Old Courthouse in 1846, lost on a technicality in 1847 and received permission for another trial, were set free by a jury in 1850, saw that decision reversed by the Missouri Supreme Court in 1852, were denied freedom by a jury in the Federal Circuit Court District of Missouri in 1854, had that decision upheld by the United States Supreme Court in March 18577, and were purchased and freed by the Blow family in May 1857.

St. Louis, Missouri · United States