Which case declared enslaved individuals were not citizens and had no rights under the Constitution?

Which case declared enslaved individuals were not citizens and had no rights under the Constitution?

• A. Mapp v. Ohio
• B. Barnette
• C. Dred Scott v. Sandford
• D. Wong Sun v. United States

Answer: (C)

The central issue is how the Constitution treated enslaved people and what the Supreme Court said about citizenship in the mid-19th century. In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Court declared that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not citizens of the United States and therefore had no rights under the Constitution that the white population was bound to respect. The opinion treated enslaved people as property and held that Congress lacked authority to prohibit slavery in new territories, effectively invalidating aspects of the Missouri Compromise and strengthening protections for slavery as property under the Constitution. This ruling reinforced the idea that the federal government could not classify Black individuals as citizens with constitutional rights and help explain why it remains one of the most infamous decisions in Supreme Court history. The other cases listed deal with different aspects of constitutional rights: one about the exclusionary rule and state-court criminal procedure, another about compulsory flag salutes and free speech/religious liberty, and another about the admissibility of statements obtained in violation of the law. They do not address whether enslaved people were citizens or had constitutional rights.

The central issue is how the Constitution treated enslaved people and what the Supreme Court said about citizenship in the mid-19th century. In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), the Court declared that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not citizens of the United States and therefore had no rights under the Constitution that the white population was bound to respect. The opinion treated enslaved people as property and held that Congress lacked authority to prohibit slavery in new territories, effectively invalidating aspects of the Missouri Compromise and strengthening protections for slavery as property under the Constitution. This ruling reinforced the idea that the federal government could not classify Black individuals as citizens with constitutional rights and help explain why it remains one of the most infamous decisions in Supreme Court history.

The other cases listed deal with different aspects of constitutional rights: one about the exclusionary rule and state-court criminal procedure, another about compulsory flag salutes and free speech/religious liberty, and another about the admissibility of statements obtained in violation of the law. They do not address whether enslaved people were citizens or had constitutional rights.