American History 101: The Supreme Court

In 1857, the Supreme Court heard the case of Dred Scott v. John Sandford. Scott v. Sandford is also known as "The Dred Scott Decision". As a whole, the case can be summarized by the following.

The Supreme Court ruled the following:

1. People of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants (regardless of their status of slave or free men), were not protected by the Constitution and could never be called citizens of the United States.

2. Additionally, it held that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories.

3. The Court also ruled that since slaves were not citizens, they could not sue in court (as was the case of Mr. Scott in question).

4. And lastly, the Court ruled that slaves--an entire class of human beings reduced to the status of private property--could not be taken away from their owners without due process.

So. Here we have a case in which the Law set forth by Man...degraded an entire race of people and all descendants of those people to the rank of a footstool or a pincushion or a dairy-cow.

But it gets better.

Dred Scott v. Sandford is considered today to be overruled by the thirteenth and fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. But the Supreme Court has never formally overruled it.

And now we have Roe v. Wade. If we're going to play the game in which we can overturn Supreme Court rulings by an Amendment--well, I consider Roe v. Wade overturned by the 14th Amendment.

Amendment XIV: No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges...of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property.

Key phrase: nor shall any state deprive any person of life.

There. I've overturned Roe v. Wade, taking my method straight from the history books. You can thank me later... (/sarcasm)

But, of course, there's a basis in the founding document of our country as well. The Declaration states:

"We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness .... whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

And there you have it.