The Dred Scott v. Sandford, also known as the Dred Scott case, was a landmark Supreme Court case in 1857 that ruled on the status of enslaved African Americans in the United States. Dred Scott was a slave who had been taken by his owner to free territories and states, where he argued that he should be granted freedom. The Supreme Court, however, ruled against him, stating that enslaved Africans and their descendants were not considered citizens and therefore did not have the right to sue in federal court. This decision further fueled tensions between North and South and is often cited as one of the factors that led to the Civil War.
