LINCOLN’S POLITICAL CAREER soon took him to the United States Congress, where he served as a representative for Illinois. The federal capital was bustling with citizen politicians from every state in the Union. The air of Washington, D.C., buzzed with debate. During Lincoln’s term in Congress the United States was at war with Mexico over Texas. There was a lot of territory beyond America’s frontiers, and many of those territories wanted to become states and join the Union. But whether those new states would allow slavery or not was a question that sparked hot arguments in Congress. The pro-slavery Southern states wanted to allow the expansion of slavery. The antislavery Northern states wanted it outlawed in any territory that wanted to become a new state. Texas was a territory that already had slavery. Grabbing it from Mexico and making it a state would add another pro-slavery state to the Union.
Lincoln was against it. He was no fan of slavery, but he wasn’t exactly an abolitionist, either. He wasn’t on a crusade to abolish slavery throughout the United States. What he did care about was the law. And the way he read the law, the federal government had decided long ago to ban slavery in the territories.
So on one side of the debate were those who felt the federal government had authority over the states on this issue. On the other side were those who felt that the states should get to decide for themselves. Legal thinkers hoped for a decision from the Supreme Court that could settle the question.
Finally the court did get a case.
But it didn’t turn out the way the antislavery movement had hoped for.
Dred Scott was a Missouri slave who had lived, off and on, in several free states and territories, including Illinois. His owner was an army doctor, and Scott had moved with his owner to different army postings. After the doctor’s death the widow continued to own Scott and live in Missouri. Scott went to court to claim his freedom. He claimed that because he had lived for a total of seven years in free states, he should be considered a free man.