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 VS. JOHN F. A. SANDFORD. DECEMBER TERM 1856

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1857. First Edition. Softcover. Paper age toned, stitching a bit loose resulting in several detached pages; front wrapper lacking, rear detached, with some chipping to the edges. A Good copy only but complete and original with no library markings. Printed wraps lacking the front cover; complete, pages 393-633 [240 pages]. Grolier American 68; Howes S218; Sabin 33240. One of two simultaneous printings, the other in Washington D.C., for which no precedence has been established. The opinion of the court in this case constitutes the contents of this very important document. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom in 1846 because he lived for a time in free states before returning with his owner to Missouri, a slave state. He won the initial case but lost on appeal and then filed suit in federal court. The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, voted 7-2 against Scott's appeal, declaring that all blacks, slaves or free, were not and never could become citizens of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all of the country's territories. This decision was the catalyst of a fierce debate in American society and is often considered to be one of the underlying causes of the start of the Civil War.