Origins of the Dred Scott Case

In this original and provocative look at one of the most important judicial decisions in American history, Austin Allen skillfully re-creates the mid-nineteenth century Supreme Court's intellectual world. For the first time, Allen dissects the internal workings of Roger Taney's Court, showing how the justices constructed a logic parallel but separate from the political controversies that raged outside their Court. This book is indispensable for understanding the intricate connections between Jacksonian democracy, the Supreme Court, and the coming of the Civil War.

* author of The Many Faces of Judge Lynch *

Austin Allen has written an absolutely superb, and original, book that is full of extraordinarily clearly presented insights about the various legal contexts within which the Dred Scott litigation occurred and was decided by the Supreme Court. Anyone interested in the development of American constitutional law and the role of the Supreme Court must read this book.

* University of Texas School of Law *

Austin Allen has found a new and intriguing angle on the infamous Dred Scott case. . . . He explains relatively technical and obscure elements of early nineteenth-century law in an accessible and clear fashion. . . . This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Dred Scott case, and is quite valuable for anyone interested in the Supreme Court, law, and politics during the Jacksonian era.

This brilliant volume is filled with insight across antebellum legal thought. . . . Everyone working in antebellum legal history needs to engage this book. We will all be grappling . . . with Allen's thoughtful, bold book for the rest of our careers. He has opened Dred Scott again to study and shown us that we have much to learn about the complex relationship of judicial doctrine and proslavery ideology.

Allen has written a fine book: instructive, perceptive, and well researched . . . [Origins of the Dred Scott Case] will not be the last word on the subject, but, from this point forward, it must be part of any intelligent discussion.

Allen's well-written book is a fine introduction to Jacksonian jurisprudence and the politics of the Taney court . . . original and informative.

Here is a wealth of new insight into the internal dynamics of the Taney Court and the origins of its most infamous decision

Makes important contributions this scholarship on sectional controversies in antebellum America.