Volume 25, Number 19 · December 7, 1978
A Dredful Decision
By C. Vann Woodward
The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics
by Don E. Fehrenbacher
Oxford University Press, 741 pp., $25.00
It is the one Supreme Court case that the proverbial 'every schoolboy' is said to know by name. The unforgettable name itself undoubtedly helped. That and an obscure connection with the coming of the Civil War. Beyond that, however, an experienced teacher of the law has wryly remarked, 'The only sensible way of handling the Dred Scott case in class is to ask—hurriedly—if there are any questions on the reading assignments which cover the subject, pray that there will be none, and then pass rapidly on to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.'
Review, 2549 words
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