Excerpt from the Supreme Court Decision in the Dred Scott Case, 1859
The question is simply this: Can a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves, become a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution of the United States, and as such become entitled to all the rights, and privileges, and immunities, guarantied by that instrument to the citizen? One of which rights is the privilege of suing in a court of the United States in the cases specified in the Constitution.
Which of the following BEST describes why the combined effect of the law criticized in the cartoon and the ruling of the Supreme Court was so significant?
A.
They made slavery enforceable in non-slave states.
B.
They permitted the expansion of slavery into new territories.
C.
They overturned abolition laws in non-slaveholding states.
D.
They undermined Southern efforts to protect slavery.