Britannica said the court's ruling in his case "seemed a mortal blow to the newly created Republican Party"
[DOC] [TLE] Dred Scott decision - South Carolina Civil War Sesquicentennial [PAR] ARTICLE from the Encyclopdia Britannica ... (March 6, 1857), ruling of the U.S. 
Supreme Court that made slavery legal in all the ... Dred Scott reportedly 
attempted to purchase his freedom from Emerson's widow, who refused the sale.