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[SCOTT v. SANDFORD]. HOWARD, Benjamin C. (1791-1872). A Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges thereof, in the Case of Dred Scott versus John F.A. Sandford. December Term, 1856. New York: D. Appleton, 1857.
8vo. Modern blue cloth. (Some penciled marginalia, final leaf dampstained near gutter).
FIRST EDITION, one of two simultaneously printed editions. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom because of his stay in a free state and territory. The Supreme Court’s decision that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Scott’s residence in free territory had not made him free greatly accelerated sectional hostility. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the opinion of the Court, and while the decision was not a major factor in the commencement of the Civil War, it certainly damaged the credibility of the Court’s credibility in the North. Grolier, American 68; Howes S218; Sabin 33240.