1799
Dred Scott is born in Virginia as a slave of the Peter Blow family.
1803
The United States purchases the territory of Louisiana from France.
1804
The U.S. takes formal possession of what is now Missouri.
1820
Congress admits Missouri as a slave state. The question of Missouri statehood sparks widespread disagreement over the expansion of slavery. The resolution, eventually known as the Missouri Compromise, permits Missouri to enter the U.S. as a slave state along with the free state of Maine, preserving a balance in the number of free and slave states. The Missouri Compromise also dictates that no territories above 360-30’ latitude can enter the union as slave states. Missouri itself is located at the nexus of freedom and slavery. The neighboring state of Illinois had entered the union as a free state in 1819.
1830
The Blow family moves to St. Louis.
1831
Dred Scott is sold to John Emerson.
1831-1842
Over the next eleven years Scott accompanies Emerson to posts in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where Congress prohibits slavery under the rules of the Missouri Compromise (a law of which Scott is not aware).
1843
John Emerson dies. Irene Emerson hires out Dred, Harriett, and their children to work for other families in St. Louis.
1846
Dred and Harriett Scott sue Irene Emerson for their freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court.
1847
The circuit court rules in favor of Irene Emerson.
1850
In a second trial the jury decides that the Scotts deserve to be free, based on their years of residence in the nonslave territories of Wisconsin and Illinois.
1852
Irene Emerson appeals the decision to the Missouri Supreme Court. The state supreme court overrules the circuit court decision and returns the Scotts to slavery.
1853
Scott files suit in the U.S. federal court in St. Louis. The defendant in this case is Irene Emerson’s brother, John Sanford.
1856
Scott and his lawyers appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1857
Irene Emerson remarries. Since her husband opposes slavery, she returns Dred and his family to the Blow family. The Blows give the Scotts their freedom.
1858
Dred Scott dies of tuberculosis and is buried in St. Louis.
1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected president in a political contest that is dominated by the discussion of slavery. South Carolina secedes from the Union, and the Civil War begins.