the Dred Scott Case
/ðə ˌdred ˈskɒt keɪs/
/ðə ˌdred ˈskɑːt keɪs/
(also the Dred Scott decision
/ðə ˌdred ˈskɒt dɪsɪʒn/
/ðə ˌdred ˈskɑːt dɪsɪʒn/
)- a US Supreme Court decision in 1857 that a slave was not a citizen and could not begin a legal case against anyone. Dred Scott was a slave who wanted a court to say he was free because his owner took him to a free state. The Supreme Court also decided that Congress had no power to prevent slavery in new states. The case divided the nation and led indirectly to the Civil War.