In 1857, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney,

considered by historians to be an outstanding jurist

along with a competent judicial administrator, with

the stroke of his pen attempted to settle once and for

all the status of slavery in this country. This subject

along with its expansion west was debated for many

decades prior to Taney‘s ruling. In his perceived

wisdom he chose to ignore the fundamental

principle in which our country was founded as

outlined clearly in the Declaration of Indepen

dence.

When Thomas Jefferson penned this

declaration it heralded that ―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.‖ This

sentence has been called one of the best-known and

most potent sentences ever written. On paper it

appeared to exclude none of the inhabitants of the

original thirteen colonies.

Dred Scott‘s quest for freedom was part of a

process that helped the United States fulfill these

words, promised and echoed ever since the

beginning of the American Revolution.

You are about to read the product of a

thorough research of the known records and

transactions relating to Dred Scott‘s early years in

Virginia as the slave of Peter Blow of Southampton

County. In the early 19th Century this man was

considered property, hardly worthy of mention in

ii

the documents of the time. Since his early life in

Southampton, his stature in American Society has

risen in prominence, representing a portion of

America that speaks volumes as to how as a nation

we have evolved in an attempt to fulfill the

founding fathers‘ unrealized statements.

We recognize and honor Dred and his

Virginia parents by identifying their existence on

Peter Blow‘s Plantation and as the slaves of the

Taylor family. This is an attempt to tell the story of

their early life and preserve their legacy for future

generations to remember. In testament to his life,

Dred Scott‘s stature has risen from these humble

beginnings, representing a fulfillment of that

portion of the creed of the United States that was

founded upon the principles of God, Equality for

all, and individual liberty.

Dred Scott repeatedly lost court decisions in

his quest for freedom for his family; however, he

was successful in obtaining an honored place for

himself in the history of our great nation while

Chief Justice Taney‘s legacy drifts into obscurity.