ruled that slavery could not be prohibited in the territories. This decision widened the breach between the northern and southern states and was one of the causes of the Civil War.

 

Justice Curtis, in his dissent, pointed out the Taney was simply wrong:

 

At the time of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation (1781), all free native-born inhabitants of the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, though descended from African slaves, were not only citizens of those States, but such of these as had the other necessary

 

Once a Slave                                      ...

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