Chapter 48: The Republicans Refuse to Abide by the Supreme Court Decision

Northern politicians respond to Taney’s ruling by calling it an attempt by a Southern court majority to “nationalize” slavery, even in the east.

They point to the fact that all nine Justices offer different views on the case, and that two of them, Northerners John McLean and Benjamin Curtis, write dissents, and Curtis soon resigns over the controversy.

While Lincoln initially withholds his comments, he eventually says the ruling is wrong. He cites two reasons: first that many states had once considered Blacks as citizens; second that Taney’s call ignores the spirit of equality announced in the Declaration of Independence.

Shortly after the decision, Scott is granted his freedom and becomes a porter in a St. Louis hotel before tuberculosis strikes him down in 1858. (To the present, visitors place Lincoln pennies face up at his gravesite.)