Uncovering the
Dred Scott Trial
Overview
Students will use the Virtual City 1850s model to discover the background
and outcome of the Dred Scott Trial. They will interpret and rewrite
Justice Taney’s Opinion in the Dred Scott Decision to discover
its effect on the country before the Civil War.
Objectives
After completing this lesson, students will:
- Utilize the Virtual City-St.
Louis website
- Analyze Primary Sources
- Interpret
meanings of historical documents
- Synthesize information
- Understand
the outcome of the Dred Scott Trial
Show Me Standards CA3, SS6,
SS7; 1.4, 1.5, 4.2, 4.6
Process: In a study of Pre-Civil
War America
-
Visit the Old Courthouse in the 1850s model of the Virtual St. Louis site
to find information about Dred Scott. Have students read the page titled
DRED SCOTT. Have students summarize the background information using the
W questions.
- Who was involved?
- What happened?
- When did it
occur?
- Where did
it happen?
- Why did it
happen?
- How did it
turn out?
-
Next, have students select the page titled FREEDOM SUIT and click on the
blue PERSPECTIVES button at the bottom of the page. In this PERSPECTIVES
page, choose the UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. Scroll down until you find
the “OPINION OF THE COURT”. Click it and have students read
the excerpt of Justice Taney ’s Opinion.
- Divide the excerpt of the Opinion into sections. Divide the class into
groups and have students use dictionaries and/or thesauruses to interpret
their section of the decision.
- Each group should rewrite its section of the decision, using modern language
so that the meaning is clear for students of this age.
- Present the full decision in its interpreted form.
- Conclude the activity by having students write news articles describing
the effect of the case and its outcome on the country before the Civil
War.
Click
here for student instructions