The Dred Scott case in St. Louis began on April 6, 1846, when Dred and Harriet Scott filed separate freedom petitions at the Old Courthouse, and it stretched across eleven years of trials and appeals before ending with the family’s emancipation in that same courthouse in May 1857. In between, a St. Louis jury declared them free, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that verdict, and the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of the most infamous rulings in American legal history. The building where it all started still stands downtown, now part of Gateway Arch National Park.
Why the Scotts Had a Case
Dred Scott was born into slavery in Virginia around 1799 and was brought to St. Louis in 1830 by the Peter Blow family, who soon sold him to Dr. John Emerson, a U.S. Army surgeon.1National Park Service. The Dred Scott Case Emerson’s military postings took Scott into places where slavery was illegal. In 1833, they traveled to Fort Armstrong in Illinois, a free state. Three years later, they moved to Fort Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory, where the Missouri Compromise banned slavery.2Famous Trials. The Dred Scott Case – A Chronology
Scott lived in free territory for roughly four years. At Fort Snelling he married Harriet Robinson, and the federal Indian agent Lawrence Taliaferro transferred ownership of Harriet to Emerson at the wedding. Their daughter Eliza was born on a journey through free territory; a second daughter, Lizzie, was born later in St. Louis. Dr. Emerson died in 1843, and control of the family passed to his widow, Irene Emerson.
The Scotts’ legal argument rested on a doctrine Missouri courts had applied for decades: if a slaveholder voluntarily brought an enslaved person into a jurisdiction where slavery was illegal, that person’s status changed to free, and the change survived a return to Missouri. The phrase “once free, always free” captured the rule. Missouri also had a statute, on the books since 1824, that let anyone held in bondage petition the local court for permission to sue for freedom, with a court-appointed lawyer at no cost.3National Park Service. Freedom Suits Hundreds of these suits had already moved through St. Louis courts. When the Scotts filed, they were following a well-worn path.
The 1846 Petition at the Old Courthouse
On April 6, 1846, Dred Scott signed his petition with an “X,” asking the St. Louis Circuit Court for permission to sue Irene Emerson for his freedom.4Missouri Secretary of State. Missouris Dred Scott Case 1846-1857 The petition stated that he was “claimed as a slave” by Emerson.5Digital Library on American Slavery. Race and Slavery Petitions Harriet filed her own petition the same day so that each spouse’s claim stood independently. Both alleged assault, the standard procedural claim needed to bring a trespass action and get the court to consider the underlying freedom question.
The Blow family, Scott’s original owners, paid the filing fees and administrative costs.1National Park Service. The Dred Scott Case St. Louis attorney Charles Edmund LaBeaume played an important early role in organizing the legal effort.4Missouri Secretary of State. Missouris Dred Scott Case 1846-1857 The Old Courthouse, at the center of the city’s legal district, hosted every filing and motion in the early years of the case.
The 1847 Trial and a Hearsay Problem
The first trial came in 1847. To win, the Scotts had to prove two things: that they had lived in free territory, and that Irene Emerson currently held them as slaves. The residency evidence was strong. The ownership evidence collapsed on a technicality.
A St. Louis man named Samuel Russell testified that he had hired Dred and Harriet from Irene Emerson and paid her father, Alexander Sanford, for their labor. On cross-examination, Emerson’s attorney established that Russell’s wife Adeline had actually arranged the hire. Samuel had only handled the money. The judge ruled Russell’s testimony inadmissible as hearsay, and without it the jury had no direct proof that Emerson held the Scotts as her slaves.4Missouri Secretary of State. Missouris Dred Scott Case 1846-1857 The jurors never reached the “once free, always free” question. The verdict went against the Scotts.
The 1850 Retrial and Jury Verdict
The court granted a new trial. Procedural motions and a devastating cholera epidemic pushed the retrial to 1850. This time the legal team established the chain of ownership without the hearsay problem. A St. Louis jury heard the evidence, applied Missouri’s freedom-suit precedents, and returned a verdict for the Scotts. Dred and Harriet were declared free.4Missouri Secretary of State. Missouris Dred Scott Case 1846-1857
The Emerson estate appealed.
The Missouri Supreme Court Reversal
In 1852, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the jury verdict two to one and returned the family to slavery.6Missouri Secretary of State. Missouri State Archives – Dred Scott v Sandford Case Files Judge William Scott, writing for the majority, broke with the state’s own precedent. He held that Missouri was not obligated to recognize the laws of free states or territories and could withdraw that courtesy at will. The opinion stated bluntly that “times are not now as they were when the former decisions on this subject were made.”7Justia. Dred Scott v Sandford
The majority framed the shift in political terms, arguing that Missouri should not show “the least countenance” to Northern anti-slavery sentiment. Chief Justice Hamilton Gamble dissented, writing that Missouri had always respected sister states’ emancipation laws and that discarding decades of consistent rulings was unjustified.
Into Federal Court and the 1857 Ruling
With the state courts closed off, the case shifted into the federal system on diversity jurisdiction. Irene Emerson’s brother, John F.A. Sanford, had become involved in managing the family’s status and lived in New York, so Scott sued him in federal court as a claimed citizen of Missouri.8National Archives. Dred Scott v Sandford Sanford’s lawyers argued Scott was not a citizen and could not sue at all. The trial court let the case proceed but ruled against Scott on the merits.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in February 1856, reargued the case that December, and issued its ruling on March 6, 1857.7Justia. Dred Scott v Sandford Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s majority opinion held that no person of African descent, free or enslaved, was a citizen under the Constitution, so Scott had no right to sue in federal court.8National Archives. Dred Scott v Sandford The Court did not stop there. It went on to rule that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in federal territories, striking down the Missouri Compromise. Justices Benjamin Curtis and John McLean dissented, with Curtis noting that free Black men had been citizens with voting rights in several states at the time of the founding.
Freedom, Weeks After the Loss
The ruling did not end the Scott family’s story in St. Louis. Irene Emerson had remarried, and her new husband, Massachusetts congressman Calvin Chaffee, faced immediate public embarrassment over his connection to the case. He transferred ownership of the family to Taylor Blow, because Missouri law required a state resident to emancipate an enslaved person there. On May 26, 1857, Dred and Harriet Scott appeared before Judge Alexander Hamilton in the St. Louis Circuit Court and were formally freed.4Missouri Secretary of State. Missouris Dred Scott Case 1846-1857
Dred Scott died of tuberculosis on September 17, 1858, and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in north St. Louis. A nine-foot granite memorial marks the site today.4Missouri Secretary of State. Missouris Dred Scott Case 1846-1857
Visiting the St. Louis Sites
The Old Courthouse, where the Scotts filed in 1846 and stood trial in 1847 and 1850, is part of Gateway Arch National Park. Four museum galleries opened in May 2025, along with two restored historic courtrooms. National Park Service rangers lead guided tours daily at 2:15 p.m., covering the building’s architecture, its role in Missouri freedom suits, and the Dred Scott case. No tickets or reservations are required, though groups of more than ten should call ahead.9National Park Service. Old Courthouse – Gateway Arch
Dred Scott’s gravesite at Calvary Cemetery is open to visitors. The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation dedicated a memorial there with biographical information about Dred, Harriet, and their grandson Gates Madison, who is interred alongside Scott.