In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down the infamous Dred Scott decision, declaring that Black Americans could not be citizens of the United States and ruling against Congress’s ability to prohibit slavery in the territories.
Frederick Douglass, one of the most well known and fiery abolitionist orators of his day and a former slave, had some thoughts.
In this episode of the Creating America Podcast, we hear excerpts from Douglass’s powerful speech, “On the Occasion of the Anniversary of the American Abolition Society,” delivered in May 1857, shortly after the Dred Scott decision.
Douglass confronts the Supreme Court’s ruling head-on. He discusses the growing power of the abolitionist movement, attacks Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s reasoning, and argues that the decision cannot ultimately defeat the cause of freedom.
Douglass also makes a remarkable constitutional argument. Rather than rejecting the Constitution as a pro-slavery document, he argues that its principles of liberty and justice can—and should—be used against slavery.
Host & Narrator: Will Sarris
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Episode 27