The Most Important Events That Changed History Forever

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

The Dred Scott decision, also known as Dred Scott v. Sandford, was a landmark decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court which determined that the Constitution did not uphold rights or citizenship for Black people. Scott was an enslaved Black man whose owners had taken him from a slave state to a state where slavery was illegal; he sued for his freedom in court once his owners returned him to Missouri. The rulings were voided by the Thirteenth Amendment, and the decision has been universally denounced as the worst in Supreme Court history.

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The More You Know

  • England is hit with more tornadoes per square mile than any other country in the world.
  • Almost all chickens eaten today come from the winner of the 1948 'Chicken of Tomorrow' Contest whose genetics now dominate poultry farms worldwide.
  • Fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia.
  • Tic Tac mints are named after the sound their container makes.
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