The Dred Scott Decision declares that African-Americans are not citizens.

The U.S. Supreme court rules in the case Scott v. Sandford that African-Americans, both free and enslaved, are not citizens of the U.S. and not protected by the U.S. Constitution. Chief Justice Roger Taney explains in the majority opinion, “…We think they [people of African ancestry] are . . . not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word “citizens” in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States…” In 1868, Congress ratifies the Fourteenth Amendment, granting citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., finally overturning the Dred Scot Decision.