among the earliest foreigners to come to the American continent, but their
immigration was not voluntary. They were forcibly transported by European
colonists; because of slavery, their experience was unlike that of any other
immigrant group. Slaves were deprived of virtually all rights - including the rights
to own property, pursue an education, marry and raise children and practice their
religions.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, there developed an ideology that blacks were

f j

morally and intellectually inferior to whites; this ideology not only subjugated   f   f
slaves, but it also was an attempt to justify the behavior of slave owners.

Slavery violated virtually all human rights - yet it was permitted by the framers of
the Constitution as a compromise to keep the slave-owning states in the union.

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court attempted to settle a rancorous debate on slavery
by delivering what was to become an infamous opinion on the subject. This
decision was formally styled Scott v. Sanford, though it is more commonly known
as the "Dred Scott" case. It is now regarded as perhaps the worst decision in the

^

Court's history.