Dred Scott v. Sandford : opinions and contemporary commentary

Resource Information

The work Dred Scott v. Sandford : opinions and contemporary commentary represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Biddle Law Library - University of Pennsylvania Law School. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Dred Scott v. Sandford : opinions and contemporary commentary

Title remainder

opinions and contemporary commentary

Statement of responsibility

with a bibliographic essay by Douglas W. Lind

Title variation

• Dred Scott versus Sandford
• Dred Scott v. Sanford

Creator

• Lind, Douglas W
• Lind, Douglas W

Contributor

• Scott, Dred, 1809-1858
• Sanford, John F. A., 1806 or 1807-1857
• Sanford, John F. A., 1806 or 1807-1857
• Scott, Dred, 1809-1858
• Lind, Douglas W

Author

• Lind, Douglas W
• Lind, Douglas W

Defendant

• Sanford, John F. A., 1806 or 1807-1857
• Sanford, John F. A., 1806 or 1807-1857

Plaintiff

• Scott, Dred, 1809-1858
• Scott, Dred, 1809-1858

Subject

• Scott, Dred, 1809-1858 -- Trials, litigation, etc
• Slavery -- Law and legislation -- United States -- Cases
• Slavery -- United States -- Legal status of slaves in free states -- Cases
• African Americans -- Civil rights -- Cases
• Howard, Benjamin C., (Benjamin Chew), 1791-1872
• Sanford, John F. A, 1806 or 1807-1857 -- Trials, litigation, etc
• Sanford, John F. A, 1806 or 7-1857 -- Trials, litigation, etc

Genre

• Trials, litigation, etc
• Cases

Language

eng

Summary

The decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, that all African Americans (free and enslaved) were unable to become American citizens and therefore lacked standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in the territories, was truly monumental in its impact on the nation and immediately generated widespread public debate. When congressional inaction postponed for a year the market availability of copies of the decision, it was Benjamin Howard’s New York, Appleton imprint of the case that the public read and which scholars relied upon as a basis for the earliest and most forceful legal commentary and analysis. From a transmission history and a cultural reception perspective, the importance of this cannot be understated. Howard’s imprint provided the textual ammunition for both sides of a debate which further divided the nation as it marched toward civil war. There currently exists no other single source of Howard’s reproduction of the Dred Scott opinion with the published contemporary commentary contained in this volume. Also, there is a dearth of detailed bibliographic analysis regarding the production and transmission of the decision itself. The introductory bibliographic essay, "The Publication and Transmission History of Dred Scott v. Sandford" addresses many previously unrecorded bibliographic aspects of the decision.--Publisher

Cataloging source

CASSC

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography