ither of the Continental Congresses nor in the Declaration of Independence did the Founding Fathers take an unequivocal stand against black slavery. Obviously, human bondage and human dignity were not as important to them as their own political and economic independence. It was not an admirable way to start a new nation. The Constitution created white privilege while consolidating black bondage. It didn't matter that more than 5,000 blacks had joined in the fight for independence only to discover real freedom didn't apply to them. Having achieved their own independence, the patriots exhibited no great concern to extend the blessings of liberty to those Americans with black skin. Black people were thought of as inferior beings, animals. "You can manage ordinary niggers by lickin' em and by given' em a taste of hot iron once in a while when they're extra ugly," one uncouth white owner was heard to say at a slave auction shortly before the Civil War. "But if a nigger ever sets himself up against me, I can't never have any patience with him. I just get my pistol and shoot him right down; and that's the best way." Certainly the formal doctrines of the country didn't apply to animals. If the "animals" were excluded from the rights of the people, then naturally it followed that they didn't deserve justice. Dred Scott vs. Sanford stands as one of the most important cases in the history of the United States Supreme Court. Most of the literature deals with the controversial final decision, rendered on March 6, 1857, by Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney. "Once free always free" became maybe once free but now back to work, nigger. This case was a prime example of how even the American judicial system failed when faced with volatile and substantive racial issues. Dred Scott was declared to be still a slave for several reasons. 1) Although blacks could be citizens of a given state, they could not be and were not citiz...
