Dred Scott had been litigating for many years by the time of Taney's ruling:
Dred Scott was a slave owned by Peter Blow, they resided in Missouri. When Peter Blow died he was bought by Dr. John Emerson who took him to the free states of Illinois and then to Wisconsin. They lived in both free territories for a duration of five years. Dr. Emerson died and his ownership passed to his widow. Dred Scott, who had just married, offered to buy his freedom and that of his wife but Mrs. Emerson refused.
In 1847 Scott sued Emerson on the premise that he had lived in free territories which made him a free man, though he was at that time living in a slave state. Scott’s legal fees were financed by Peter Blow’s sons, Scott’s first owner, and by other northern abolitionists. Unfortunately he lost as he could not prove that he and his wife were owned by Emerson’s widow.
Scott was granted a new trial in 1850 where he was able to produce a witness to testify that he and his wife were owned by Mrs. Emerson. The lower court of Missouri ruled that Scott and his wife were to be set free. Mrs. Emerson appealed the decision and transferred their ownership to her brother John Sanford. Two years later the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower court claiming that they should have legally sought freedom while living in a free state.
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