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Events on Friday 6 March 1857 1
1857Dred Scott v. Sandford decidedUS Supreme Court rules against Black citizenshipThe US Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, an enslaved man who had sued for his freedom, could not be a US citizen and had no standing to sue. The decision also held that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories, inflaming sectional tensions. The ruling is widely regarded as a major catalyst for the American Civil War.