Dred Scott: Citizenship, Courts & Constitutional Conflict — Drills · Grade 7 Social Studies

Chapter: Sectional Crisis & Civil War

What these drills covers

By the end of Dred Scott: Citizenship, Courts & Constitutional Conflict you should be able to:

4 questions, written answer, each with a worked explanation.

Vocabulary used: context, primary source, interpretation, holding, constitutional amendment.

Problem 1

What are the ruling and later citizenship-amendment years?
Answer and explanation

1857 for Dred Scott; 1868 for ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Problem 2

What evidence could test the ruling’s political effects?
Answer and explanation

Dated speeches, newspapers, party actions, correspondence, and later institutional decisions would help connect the ruling with specific reactions.

Problem 3

Why should Scott and Harriet appear as actors rather than only a case title?
Answer and explanation

Their freedom claim and sustained action help explain the proceeding and its stakes. Courts did not generate the dispute without people’s actions and circumstances.

Problem 4

Why did a ruling not necessarily end political conflict?
Answer and explanation

Participants could reject its reasoning and consequences, and institutions still made further decisions. A legal pronouncement is not unanimous political agreement.

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