HOWARD, BENJAMIN C. Report on the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges in the case of Dred Scott. December Term, 1856. 8vo, original printed wrappers; small chip at lower right corner of front cover;

HOWARD, BENJAMIN C. Report on the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges in the case of Dred Scott. December Term, 1856. 8vo, original printed wrappers; small chip at lower right corner of front cover; contemporary ownership signature small early ownership stamp on front cover; otherwise a superior copy Washington: Cornelius Wendell, 1857 E1,500/2,500 FIRST WASHINGTON EDITION, published simultaneously in New York (no firm priority established). "The Dred Scott Case is the most famous legal case involving slavery [and] the best known Supreme Court Decision of the nineteenth cen-tury"- Finkelman. Slavery in the Courtroom. (Amistad case was the only other involving slaves to reach the Supreme Court.) Scott, slave of U.S. Army surgeon Dr. John Emerson, accompanied him to Missouri, a "Free State" under the 1820 Compromise. Scott sued for his freedom based on his residence there. After several hearings, Scott was declared free. The Missouri Supreme Court reversed the decision, eventually bringing the case to U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Taney sitting. The decision was for Sanford, executor of Emerson's estate. Blockson, in 101 Influential Books by and About People of African Descent, says: "Taney's decision unquestionably made Dred Scott one of the best known blacks in America, and no judge has ever been more bitterly assailed." (#33, the New York edition); Grolier 100; Finkelman, pages 42-53. [SEE ILLUSTRATION]