Dred Scott Monument

Dred Scott Monument. Circa 1799 - September 17, 1858. , (front, center pillar:), In memoriam to the man, Mr. Dred Scott, who found his final resting place here in 1867. Ten years after his infamous U.S. Supreme Court case, Dred Scott v John F.A. Sandford, decided on March 6, 1857. He laid his burden down on September 17, 1858 (Constitution Day in the U.S.) one year and a half after the eleven-year battle he and his wife Harriet fought to free their family was lost. Their case is still known today as the worst U.S. Supreme Court decision ever rendered., (front, second from left pillar:), Harriet Robinson Scott , Circa 1820 - June 17, 1876, Harriet Scott, co-plaintiff; two daughters Eliza and Lizzie are buried in the historic Greenwood Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, (front, second from right pillar:), Gates W. Madison , January 29, 1862 - August 1, 1863, The first grandchild of the Scotts, he was interred with his grandfather in 1863. Gates was born to Eliza and Wilson Madison, the first of six children., (front, base under the bible verse:), We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness., The Declaration of Independence in Congress, July 4, 1776 , (back, center pillar:), His courageous journey to sue for his family's freedom began with his wife Harriet on April 6, 1846. On March 6, 1857, the Dred Scott Decision was read by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. He declared that Dred Scott was not a citizen. He could not sure in court. This case became a national catalyst for the U.S. Civil War. The Dred Scott Decision helped persuade Abraham Lincoln to continue his political service. The Civil War victory by the North brought about the end of slavery which was ratified by the 13th Amendment. The 13th, the 14th and 15th Amendments are direct results of the Dred Scott Decision. The Dred Scott family was freed by Taylor Blow, a son of Scott's original owner. Blow bought the family for $2.00 from abolitionist Dr. Calvin Chaffee and his wife Irene with the express purpose to free them. Taylor Blow moved Scott here from Wesleyan Cemetery on November 27, 1867. He laid here in an unmarked grave for 90 years. Fr. Edward Dowling rediscovered Scott's burial site. The granddaughter of Taylor Blow, Mrs. Harrison of Pennsylvania, donated his original headstone in 1957. The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation honors his heroic fight as a man for the ages, (back, second from left pillar:), They have no rights that whites are bound to respect. , Dred Scott Decision March 6, 1857, (back, second from right pillar:), He may decide. And decide again; but he cannot reverse the decision of the most high. He cannot change the essential nature of things - making evil good, and good evil. Happily for the whole human family, their rights have been defined, declared, and decided in a court higher than the Supreme Court. , Frederick Douglass , (back, base:), It is not well to let the great pass away without note and worthy honor. Dred Scott is dead. It is only now and then we are called to regret the loss of the truly eminent. Once or twice, perhaps, in a generation. Dred is one of these. His name will live when those of [others] will be feebly remembered or wholly forgotten. Posterity will make inquiry about the subject of that great leading case, decisive of human right, upon which the fate of the Union was in his day presumed to depend. So, by all means, let the noted negro have his obituary and monument with the rest. Of a truth, few men who have achieved greatness have won it so effectually as this black champion. , Excerpts from Dred Scott Eulogy The New York Times, 1858