Justice Roger Taney of the U.S. Supreme Court reads a verdict in the case of elderly black man Dred Scott, who, after the death of his master, a military doctor, had passed to his widow, who, having remarried in Illinois, had agreed to free him. The Supreme Court, however, declares that Scott is a slave and therefore not a citizen of the Union and therefore has no right to appear in federal court. The Northern region erupts with tremendous anger and indignation: first the state of New York, followed by the other Northern states, declares that any slave entering their territory will automatically become a free man.
