[Homer_J_Simpson]

Continued from March 6 (reply #21).

Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics" (1978)

[DoodleDawg]

Slightly off topic but I thought this was pretty interesting when it came out: You Don’t See Dred Scott Cited Approvingly Everyday

[Tax-chick]

From page 20:

ON THE SEASONS. There is four seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. They are all pleasant. Some people may like Spring best; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death. The End.

[Jim W N]

Am I reading this right, that the other Justices including Curtis did not have access to a printed copy of the majority opinion?

How could they concur or dissent without a printed copy of the opinion? I think these days all the Justices give all the others their rough draft opinions. It would seem that if someone changed their opinion significantly, they would also give a printed copy to the pothers.

[colorado tanker]

If Taney had a hard time dealing with Curtis’ dissent it would have been interesting to see what he would have done on the receiving end of a Scalia dissent.

[colorado tanker]

I spent last weekend in Kansas City and discovered the Steamboat Arabia museum. The Arabia was a packet paddle-wheeler that for a time ran from Kansas City to Sioux City, Iowa on the Missouri River. In 1856 it hit a snag and sank in the River. All people made it off but the cargo was lost in the muck. Eventually, the Missouri changed course, leaving the Arabia buried under the water table in a farmer's field.

The anoxic environment preserved everything perfectly except clothing. It is absolutely amazing to see the collection. It's a time capsule into middle class life in 1856 in Kansas and Missouri, at least in the river towns and nearby regions. Sets of china and tableware look like they were bought yesterday. They have thousands of sulfur headed matches that supposedly didn't exist in 1856. The have rubber combs that experts thought hadn't been invented yet. It was definitely not life in a sod cabin. It's pretty amazing when you consider Kansas and Nebraska only opened for settlement in 1854.

The only "dry good" that wasn't in ample supply was guns. According to the guide the master was an abolitionist and had been caught trying to run guns to Lawrence. He was told if he was caught again he would face a necktie party.