The Long Legacy
The Difficult Legacy of Dred Scott, the Supreme Court, and America's 405 year's long Thing With Race
Written by Bill Gwaltney
As a serious student of History, it is very likely that it is difficult for me to not try to place everything into a historical context.
I think about that oft repeated idiom, “If you don’t study the past, you are bound to repeat it.”
If that saying is true, the United States may be in for big trouble since as a nation we tend to remember what attempts to makes us feel proud - The 1776 Project; challenges that which we have been encouraged to believe - The 1619 Project; or that which attempts to create a future based on a false and re-imagined and reconstituted past - Project 2025.
One of the most consequential decisions that the United States Supreme Court ruled on and is generally considered to be one of the worst decisions ever made by the court was handed down on March 6th, 1857.
That decision stated that persons of African descent were not American Citizens and therefore had no standing in the court nor did they posses any rights that White People were bound to respect.
Even though the Supreme Court decision in the case known as Dred Scott has been castigated for years and was effectively nullified by the 13thand 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, making enslavement illegal except in the case of incarceration, granting citizenship to the formerly enslaved, and providing equal protection under the law to all, it is still part of the never-ending war on the American psyche.
The January 6th uprising was couched in terms that the election was stolen from Trump by elicit means. But the real concern and belief of those who have been saying for years that certain people voted illegally is that “certain people” - people such as Mr. Scott - are simply not “true Americans” that have any rights that a true American is bound to respect. Rights such as voting.
Jason Van Tatenhove, a longtime spokesperson for the Oath Keepers – a hate group tried for seditious conspiracy – described the resurrection to the January 6 Committee with these words: “This is all about race.”
Every day, the news reminds us that we still wrestle with some of the very same attitudes that surrounded the Dred Scott case over 100 years ago.
In the same way that The Civil War is felt more strongly than say, the First World War by most Americans, the negative beliefs surrounding “Dred Scott” decision are felt more strongly by many Americans than are the positive values reflected by the so-called “Civil Rights” Amendments - the 13th, 14th, and 15th - to the U.S. Constitution. Even though many Black Americans may not be able to explain the Dred Scott case, they can explain the sense of not having the same rights as “true Americans”.
The decision handed down by the Supreme Court in 1857, even as the clouds of the war over slavery gained steam, created feelings that divided the country, and have left feelings in place that continue to cause harm to the country to this day.
As a former law enforcement Park Ranger, and County Sheriff’s Deputy who was involved in numerous critical incidents, I know this: After any type of incident an “After Action Review” or “AAR” is held while memories and emotions are still fresh…usually before people even go home.
The purpose of the review is to learn whatever can be learned from the incident by what was done right and not-so-right. These reviews are done to prevent a repeat of bad decisions and to recognize and practice what was done right.
Perhaps as a nation, it is time for us to do an “After Action Review” of the “Dred Scott decision” in ways that confront not the clearly misplaced legality of the ruling, but the cultural damage that it continues to wreak, and why this morally flawed ruling still resounds within our hearts, our minds and our society.
Dred Scott was born a slave in Missouri. Taken to different states and territories by his “Owner,” a Military Surgeon named Sanford, between 1833 and 1843, Scott and his wife found themselves in the free State of Illinois, where Slavery was not allowed by law.
Upon being brought back to Missouri, a State where Slavery was allowed, Scott filed suit for his freedom, in the hopes that his residence in places where Slavery was illegal might win his freedom.
He would be disappointed . He lost his suit at the State Level. Taking it to the Supreme Court, he and his wife lost again.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney handed down and explained a majority opinion that held that: “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves,” whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore does not have standing to sue in federal court, nor does he have any rights that a White man is bound to respect .”
But in his comments, Taney went further and made it his business to elaborate on what he clearly saw as the “worthlessness” of Black Americans, who in his personal opinion, were not and could not ever hope to be U.S. Citizens.
In his 1864 obituary in the New York Times, we read:
“In the course of his remarks (regarding the Dred Scott decision) the Chief Justice took occasion to assert, that for more than a century previous to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, negroes, whether slave or free, had been regarded as "beings of an interior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect;" that consequently such persons were not included "people" in the general words of that instrument, and could not in any respect be considered as citizens.”
So there you have it. Here in the United States where all men are created equal, men who were Americans of African descent could not even be considered people, let alone equal.
America’s struggle with race continues. As of August 2021 about 26 states have taken steps to curb various aspects of how teachers discuss America’s racist past with students and how districts fight systemic racism.[1]
Florida has in particular has drawn national attention after Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the College Board’s AP African American Studies course and supported new Black history standards that include a clarification to teach “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
As a student of the past, I cannot help but wonder how much further along our country would be if we taught and recalled our full history, warts, and all.
Bill Gwaltney is a retired federal law enforcement officer, and National Park Service historian. Bill was instrumental in standing up the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC. He was the historical consultant to Denzel Washington on the Civil War movie, Glory. Bill was Director of Education with the U.S. Battlefields and Monument Commission in Paris protecting the American Military Cemetery at Normandy as well as sites around the world. Bill serves on the board of The Civil Conversations Project. Most importantly, he’s a friend.
[1] Local School Boards Are Banning Critical Race Theory. Here's How That Looks in 7 Districts