Louis court on the grounds that their residence in a free territory had freed them from the bonds of slavery. Scott's case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that he was not entitled to his freedom and, more broadly, that African Americans were not U.S. citizens. Read more about Dred Scott.
<u>On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. ... Taney ruled that: Any person of African descent, whether slave or free, is not a citizen of the United States, according to the Constitution.</u>
