Eleven Years of Legal Battle
While the Dred Scott Supreme Court case of 1857 is remembered as a legal defeat, what's often overlooked is how faith sustained Dred Scott through eleven years of legal battle.
Dred Scott was an enslaved man who sued for his freedom because he had lived in free territories with his owner. The case went through multiple courts over eleven years.
Throughout this seemingly impossible legal journey, Scott and his wife Harriet (both deeply religious) maintained their faith. They found support from their church community and abolitionists motivated by Christian conviction.
What the Courts Denied
Even after the devastating Supreme Court ruling against him, Scott's faith never wavered.
Providence Provided
Remarkably, just three months after the ruling, his owner's widow married an abolitionist who immediately arranged for the Scotts to be freed.
What the courts denied, providence provided. Within a year of his legal defeat, Dred Scott died a free man. His case, though legally lost, became a catalyst that accelerated the end of slavery in America.
God's justice works in ways the courts cannot contain.