Mr. Ferriero for most people long out of school thinking back on u. S. History dredges up memories of lessons on the revolutionary war, the establishment of the constitution, and the war of 1812, and then jumps to the beginnings of the civil war. The in between times may be indistinct but they saw the emergence of an increasingly divided nation. Throughout this time, the federal government, time and time again, had to deal with the questions of slavery and its expansion. Among the the voluminous records of the federal courts in the National Archives, are hundreds of freedom suits, cases brought by slaves seeking to obtain their freedom. One such case initiated by dred scott in 1846 made it all the way to the Supreme Court where the final decision became one of the most infamous decisions of the history of the court. Our guest today looks at three notable precivil war Supreme Court justices and how they uphold the institution of slavery in ruling after ruling. The first, chief justice o