Chief Justice Taney, President Buchanan, and others involved in the pro-slavery result of the infamous Dredd Scott decision seem to have been surprised by the extremely hostile reaction to the decision and its failure to resolve the slavery question. Why?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1idcji9/chief_justice_taney_president_buchanan_and_others/

created by MaxAugust on 30/01/2025 at 02:59 UTC*

93 upvotes, 1 top-level comments (showing 1)

Obviously, they had ideological motivations to behave as they did but surely they could have seen the horror with which many non-slavers greeted the decision coming from a mile away. Even putting aside that it seems some of them were aware they were treading on dubious legal ground to begin with.

EDIT: Pardon the accidental third D in Dred Scott in the title.

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Chief Justice Taney, President Buchanan, and others involved in the pro-slavery result of the infamous Dredd Scott decision seem to have been surprised by the extremely hostile reaction to the decision and its failure to resolve the slavery question. Why?

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