DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD OPINIONS AND CONTEMPORARY COMMENTARYLind, Douglas W. Item #: 1006043 ISBN: 9780837740614 Pages: xix,663p. Published: Getzville; William S. Hein & Co., Inc.; 2017. Subjects: SLAVERY AND THE LAW The decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), that African Americans were unable to become American citizens and therefore lacked standing to sue in federal court, and that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in the territories, was truly monumental in its impact on the nation and immediately generated widespread public debate. For more than one hundred and fifty years, there existed no single source containing the nine opinions that comprise the Dred Scott decision alongside the contemporary intellectual commentary. This volume not only fills that scholarly void but also includes Professor Lind's bibliographic essay which traces the production and transmission history of Dred Scott and details many previously unrecorded bibliographic aspects of the separately printed decision. In doing so, Lind adds important elements to the historiography of a landmark in American judicial thought--a decision which provided the textual ammunition for both sides of a debate that further divided the nation as it marched toward civil war.
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