The Closing Argument for the Petitioner Dred Scott
I shall summarize my legal case history such that all can remember the details and gain a better understanding of my case. My name is Dred Scott, I was born a slave in Virginia around 1800. I was bought by Peter Blow and worked on the family farm until 1819. The Blow family moved to St. Louis, Missouri and opened up a boarding house called the Jefferson Hotel. Peter Blow rented out my services to the river boats on the Mississippi River. In 1832, I was subsequently sold to an army surgeon, Dr. John Emerson for five hundred dollars. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Emerson went to live at Fort Armstrong in Illinois. Illinois was a free state and did not allow slavery. Three years later, Dr. Emerson was transferred to Fort Snelling on the Mississippi River in the Wisconsin Territory, again another slave free territory. During this time, Dr. Emerson purchased a female slave named Harriet Robinson. We fell in love, considered ourselves married and eventually had four children. Following a short period at Fort Jessup in Louisiana, Dr. Emerson returned to St. Louis with his wife Irene and my family. In December 1843, Dr. Emerson died and bequeathed my family and me to his wife.
After the death of Dr. Emerson, I tried to purchase my families freedom from the widow Mrs. Emerson. When she refused to sell our freedom, I filed a lawsuit for our family’s freedom. On April 6, 1846, the lawsuit was filed where I claimed that I should be given my freedom because I had spent long periods of time with Dr. Emerson in areas of the country where slavery was banned. There is legal precedence established in several case laws, (Somerset v. Stewart, Winny v. Whiteside and Rachael v. Walker). In these cases, since the slaves spent time in free states, they were emancipated by the courts. My first lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality because the