court,
and exclusively within the jurisdiction of the courts of the State of
Missouri, for that, to wit: the said plaintiff, Dred Scott, is not a
citizen of the State of Missouri, as alleged in his declaration, because
he is a negro of African descent; his ancestors were of pure African
blood, and were brought into this country and sold as negro slaves, and
this the said Sandford is ready to verify. Wherefore, he prays judgment
whether this court can or will take further cognizance of the action
aforesaid.

JOHN F. A. SANDFORD.

* * * * *

To this plea there was a demurrer in the usual form, which was argued in
April, 1854, when the court gave judgment that the demurrer should be
sustained.

In May, 1854, the defendant, in pursuance of an agreement between
counsel, and with the leave of the court, pleaded in bar of the action:

1. Not guilty.

2. That the plaintiff was a negro slave, the lawful property of the
defendant, and, as such, the defendant gently laid his hands upon him,
and thereby had only restrained him, as the defendant had a right to do.

3. That with respect to the wife and daughters of the plaintiff, in the
second and third counts of the declaration mentioned, the defendant had,
as to them, only acted in the same manner, and in virtue of the same
legal right.

In the first of these pleas, the plaintiff joined issue; and to the
second and third, filed replications alleging that the defendant, of his
own wrong and without the cause in his second and third pleas alleged,
committed the trespasses, etc.

The counsel then filed the following agreed statement of facts, viz:

In the year 1834, the plaintiff was a negro slave belonging to Dr.
Emerson, who was a surgeon in the army of the United States. In that
year, 1834, said Dr. Emerson took the plaintiff from the State of
Missouri to the military post at Rock Island, in the State of Illinois,
and held him there as a slave until the month of April or May, 1836. At
the time last mentioned, said Dr. Emerson removed the plaintiff from
said military post at Rock Island to the military post at Fort Snelling,
situate on the west bank of the Mississippi river, in the Territory
known as Upper Louisiana, acquired by the United States of France, and
situate north of the latitude of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes
north, and north of the State of Missouri. Said Dr. Emerson held the