Answer: Slaves were considered property ---------------------------> Congress did not have the power to outlaw slavery in the territories
Explanation:
The Dred Scott decision which was one of the most criticized in Supreme Court history, ruled that African Americans were not American citizens but were to be classified as property.
As such, Congress had no power to outlaw slavery in the territories because the U.S. Constitution protected the rights of Americans to not be deprived of their property by the state unless there is due process.
This decision heavily influenced the intensity of rivalry between the North and the South on the topic of slavery and so could be said to have been a main cause of the Civil War.
