Dred Scott Decision Galvanizes Black Political Resistance

Chief Justice Taney's Dred Scott ruling, that Black people 'had no rights which the white man was bound to respect', was met with organized Black defiance. Black conventions in Philadelphia, New York, and Ohio convened within weeks to assert citizenship. Frederick Douglass declared: 'My hopes were never brighter than now.' The ruling accelerated Black emigrationist sentiment led by Martin Delany and intensified Underground Railroad activity.