The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Dred Scott Case

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed when the territories of Kansas and Nebraska (to become states in the future) were formed. Basically, it undid what the Missouri Compromise did. The Missouri Compromise made it so that any land colonized above a certain line would not allow slavery. Now, because of the act, the two territories would vote on whether or not to have slavery (popular sovereignty). Dred Scott was a slave who escaped from his master. After two years of living in free states, he went to the supreme court with the argument that because he was living in free states, he should be declared a free man, and tried to sue. All the supreme court did was say that he was a slave, therefore he did not have the rights to sue anybody.


Kansas and Nebraska could now potentially be slave territories.
Image from: http://www.ushistory.org/us/31a.asp

Dred Scott was not considered a free man.
Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford