Home > Great American Court Cases > Scott v. Sandford

Legal Citation: 60 U.S. 393 (1857)

Plaintiff
Dred Scott

Defendant
John F. A. Sanford

Plaintiff's Claim
That Scott, who was a slave, had become a free man when his owner had taken him to a state designated as "free" under the 1820 Missouri Compromise.

Chief Lawyers for Plaintiff
Samuel M. Bay, Montgomery Blair, George Ticknor Curtis, Alexander P. Field, Roswell M. Field, David N. Hall

Chief Defense Lawyers
Hugh A. Garland, H. S. Geyer, George W. Goode, Reverdy Johnson, Lyman D. Norris

Justices for the Court
John Archibald Campbell, John Catron, Peter Vivian Daniel, Robert Cooper Grier, Samuel Nelson, Roger Brooke Taney (writing for the Court), James Moore Wayne

Justices Dissenting
Benjamin Curtis, John McLean

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
6 March 1857