Stay updated with breaking news from Kentuckian john. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 put a match to the tinderbox of sectional conflict over the future of slavery, the most important issue in the mid-19th century United States. It exploded the hard-won rules under which the expansion of the United States had been undertaken over the previous four or so decades and presented the bleakest possible future for African Americans, enslaved or free that they were not and never would become citizens with guaranteed rights. In the process it set the stage for and had a huge impact on the historic presidential election of 1860. ....