Documents

Letters

These letters display the correspondence between the members of the Supreme Court from before the Dred Scott case was read until the onset of the Civil War. The first two letters examine the secretive correspondence between President-elect Buchanan and Justice Catron and Justice Grier. The third letter is reaction to President Buchanan last year in office  from Justice Grier to his dear friend, Aubrey Smith.

Newspapers

A series of newspaper collections detailing the events leading up to the Dred Scott case and its lasting impacts on the United States. The first three newspaper clips reveal the tension over slavery in the United States. The next three articles report the findings in the Dred Scott case and how the country responded to it. The final newspaper clip reveals tension between Chief Justice Taney and President Lincoln during the Civil War.

Addresses

The first address is from Buchanan’s Inauguration where he asks the country to accept the Supreme Court’s pending decision, whatever it may be. In response to Buchanan’s address, William Seward and Abraham Lincoln make similar conspiratorial attacks towards the President and the Supreme Court.  

 

By Rachel Meyer, Dickinson College, Class of 2015