Every five years the Potawatomi retrace the infamous Trail of Death of 1838 from Indiana to Kansas. Again this year their descendants will visit Randolph County, stopping at the two …
Senate resolution condemns 1852 Missouri Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott case
By Rudi Keller Missouri Independent
For two brief periods of his life, Dred Scott was a free man.
The first period of freedom began with the decision of a St. Louis jury in January 1850 and continued until March 1852. During that time, Scott and his wife, Harriet, were emancipated because Missouri law recognized they were freed when their owners took them into territory where slavery was prohibited by state and federal law.
That changed when their case reached the Missouri Supreme Court. With three members elected by popular vote for the first time in the state’s history and growing national agitation over slavery, the court, in a 2-1 decision, overturned all standing precedent and returned the couple to bondage.