Report of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges Thereof, in the Case of Dred Scott versus John F.A. Sandford. December Term, 1856.

239pp, 8vo, original string binding and rear wrapper. First edition, one of two simultaneously printed editions, the other in New York, for which no precedence has been established. Sabin 33240. Provenance: Ex-Norm Flayderman collection.

Scarce first edition of the landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford which held that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts. The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a Federal territory. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the opinion for the majority. Dred Scott v. Sandford is now considered by many legal scholars to be the worst ever rendered by the Supreme Court, and inevitably helped propel the divided nation closer to the Civil War.