Before embarking on the series of court cases that argued for his freedom, Scott’s life was the rootless existence typical of many slaves. Born around 1799 in Virginia, he moved with his owner Peter Blow to Alabama and eventually to St. Louis, where he was sold to U.S. Army Dr. John Emerson in the early 1830s.
Like many antebellum officers, Emerson was transferred from post to post through Western states and territories. During those journeys, Scott married a slave woman named Harriet Robinson in 1836. When Emerson died in 1843, Scott, by then the father of two children, likely hoped the doctor’s will would manumit him—and his family—but it did not. Scott then offered Emerson’s brother-in-law and executor, J.A. Sanford, $300 hoping to buy his own freedom. But the offer was turned down. Scott decided to take the matter to the courts.
By 1846, Scott was living in St. Louis in service to Emerson’s widow. He filed suit with the state of Missouri, claiming that since he had lived with Emerson in Illinois—where slavery was outlawed by the 1787 Northwest Ordinance—and Fort Snelling in Minnesota—where the Missouri Compromise outlawed slavery in 1820—he was entitled to his freedom. In an interesting twist, the children of Peter Blow, Scott’s first owner, provided the slave family financial assistance.
