HOWARD, Benjamin C. [Dred Scott].
A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges Thereof, in the Case of Dred Scott versus John H. Sanford.
New York: D. Appleton and Company , 1857.
$3,000.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-151246
+$500
Rare First Edition of A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Case of Dred Scott versus John H. Sanford
Rare first edition of the report of the Dred Scott decision which held that the U.S. Constitution was not intended to include citizenship for African Americans, published simultaneously in Washington D.C. and New York. Octavo, original wrappers with decorative woodcut border, rebacked with added paper spine and rear wrapper. Howes S218; Sabin 33240. In very good condition with creasing and small losses to the front wrapper, glue residue to rebacking, interior bright and clean. A rare example of one of the most influential cases regarding slavery before the Civil War, regarded as the worst decision ever rendered by the Supreme Court.
The Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, popularly known as the "Dred Scott case", was a landmark decision made by the United States Supreme Court in which it ruled that the United States Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for African Americans, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free, and so the rights and privileges that the Constitution confers upon American citizens could not apply to them. The decision was made in the case of Dred Scott, an enslaved black man whose owners had taken him from Missouri, which was a slave-holding state, into the Missouri Territory, most of which had been designated "free" territory by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. When his owners later brought him back to Missouri, Scott sued in court for his freedom. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, the Court ruled that individuals of African descent "are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States." The decision has been widely denounced ever since. Historian David Thomas Konig referred to it as "unquestionably, our court's worst decision ever."
A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges Thereof, in the Case of Dred Scott versus John H. Sanford.
$3,000.00
In Stock
