Emerson wins on a technicality
06/30/1847 AD defeated
The case comes to trial in the St. Louis circuit court.
Because a key witness' testimony was dismissed as hearsay the Scots did not prove to the jury that Irene Emerson held the Scotts as slaves. Because of this technicality, the jury returned a verdict against the Scotts, and they remained in slavery.
There was no question at this point as to the validity of the Northwest Ordinance slavery prohibition, or the similar prohibition in the 1820 Missouri Compromise. The jury did not deny "once free, always free"-they simply did not hear testimony sufficient to prove that Irene Emerson claimed Dred and Harriet Scott as her slaves.
St Louis, MO
Lattitude: 38.627° N
Longitude: 90.1994° W
Region: North America
Modern Day United States
Lattitude: 38.627° N
Longitude: 90.1994° W
Region: North America
Modern Day United States
Subjects Who or What defeated?
Objects To Whom or What was defeated?
-
Dred Scott An enslaved African-Amer... -
Harriet Robinson Scott African-American woman w...
Events in 1847 MORE
