The Dred Scott Decision: Crash Course Black American History #16

In this video, we'll learn about the US Supreme Court decision in Scott vs Sanford, handed down in 1857. The case ultimately rejected the idea that Black people could be citizens of the United States, and this helped entrench the institution of slavery, denied a host of rights to a huge number of people (both enslaved and free), and increased the tensions between abolitionists and enslavers.

VIDEO SOURCES
Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics (Oxford University Press, 1978).
THIND V. UNITED STATES​ (1923)

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[mariaantoinette]

“Let’s keep going before I get in trouble.” I felt that.

[toadstoolpidgin]

You are so good at keeping an even tone and not making your personal feelings obvious. This one musta been real tough

[animuszen]

I’m not gonna lie, I was excited for this series when it first came out, but I think I can say with some confidence. That I and many others were worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. Never have I been so happy to be so wrong. Keep doing the good work of true patriots who love this country and it’s promise to all people that their rights be granted and secured, may the work bear fruits recognized to be the result of the work of those often forgotten.

[tpspeed]

This is something that I never learned about in school. I'm incredibly glad for having this course for moments like this. Thank you.

[issa_lyssa]

I have learned more about Black American History from CrashCourse and Clint Smith than any teachers I had growing up. Thank you so much for this. We must know the tragic decisions our country has made and acknowledge them if we are ever going to make a change. Thank you again these are the history lessons that teachers should've spent more time on.

[NotApplicable]

Heard this decision referenced several times, never learned this much about it. Thank you.

[tysonb]

Amazing job on presenting this. This is what we should have been taught in school when I was younger.

[RKO]

People talking about how awesome the Supreme Court is should look at this case and the one against Plessy vs Ferguson

[milesjolly]

7:14 I was feeling the same thing just then.
I wanted to use some choice four letter words to describe Taney, but decided against it.
I can’t imagine how African Americans at the time must have felt when they heard of the ruling.

[dianagibbs]

Thank you, again, for this work. I know it's hard and I'm so glad you're doing it. I hope this course becomes a must-watch part of high school for a lot of America.

[LeeSwen]

A "... deeply shameful moment in American history." Thank you for telling the story of the Dred Scott Decision.

[canaisyoung]

I wish you guys were around in 2003 when I had to study the Dredd Scott case as part of my Problems with Democracy class (yes, it was actually called that. It was a high school class, not college).

[dlanska]

I thought this was a wonderful presentation. But what happened to Dred Scott and his family after this decision? The on-line material also leaves this out. They get to the decision and then we don't learn how things transpired in later years for this pivotal family.

[michelleshaw]

Excellent, thank you, for your dignity and honor in telling the truth about this tragic historical incident.

[patrickcarpenter]

how do you know when you have an abhorrent social policy? when you have to establish technicalities that are absurd and absurdly cruel: case in point: if an enslaved man passes through free country, can he be considered free while in free country? If an enslaved man has one foot in a free state and one in a slave state, how much of the body is free? it reminds me of the bureaucratic insidiousness of the Wannsee Conference on Jewishness and the Final Solution.
Thank you very much for this video.

[RamboKingz]

Another fantastic educational content 💯

The beginning is something I always thought about being an American

[CassieAdams-of]

Thank you for a clear and concise explanation of the Dred Scott decision.

[georgefitzhugh]

Very informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[malcolmclay]

Thanks for creating this crash course it will be alot more helpful to learn considering all these attacks on CRT

[jamesc.lockwood]

It might have been helpful to cite the 2 dissenting opinions in Scott V Sanford to help show that Blacks were considered citizens of the US in some states, proving that Taney was factually incorrect in his obiter dictum.