# Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Supreme Court & the Politics of Slavery

In his "House Divided" speech, Abraham Lincoln accused Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Senator Stephen Douglas of a conspiracy to perpetuate slavery in the United States. According to Lincoln, this conspiracy took form in the 1857 Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, which excluded African Americans from U.S. citizenship. Kluge Fellow Rachel Shelden re-examines Lincoln's conspiracy charge in the context of how the federal political system -- and particularly the Supreme Court -- operated in the mid-19th century.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2016
- By: Library Of Congress
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021690026/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021690026?play=1)