Holz_9780553807424_6p_02_r1.r.qxp
11/18/08
FRAGMENT ON
11:15 AM
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DRED SCOTT DECISION, CA. DECEMBER 1856
The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of March 6, 1857—authorizing the nationalizing of slavery and ruling that blacks could never be American citizens—dominated much of Lincoln’s oratory for the next several years. As this early fragment indicates—it was written at the end of 1856 or, at latest, January 1857—he was developing arguments in opposition even before the Court rendered its decision.
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