Jessica’s  Supreme Court Cases that Defined the Nation and 

paved the 
way to the Future!

Chisholm vs. Georgia – 1793 – Considered to be the 1st Supreme

Nice guy Alex  Court case. Alex Chisholm, sued the state of Georgia over payments
was… due for goods that Chisholm had supplied to Georgia during the Amer-
ican Revolutionary War.

Marbury vs. Madison – 1803 – A landmark case in United States

law it was also the basis for establishing judicial review. Huh… THAT
MEANS… the Supreme Court checks over everything to make sure it’s
constitutional!

 McCulloch vs. Maryland – 1819 - A conflict between stateNot a good 

government and the Fed. Government, with the state being idea!! The 
called subordinate to the Feds. states will 
strike back!
 Trustees of Dartmouth College vs. Woodward – 1819 –
IMPORTANT!!! The Supreme Court ruled on dealings with the
application of the “Contract Clause” of the US Constitution
to private corps. Basically, it allowed private orgs. to
exist!! The S. Court is 
doing a bang up 
job in dealing 
❇ Gibbons vs. Ogden – 1824 – The Supreme Court gave a wide def. with the states…
You gotta stand up  to Congress power to regulate commerce throughout the states…
for the Native 
Americans at  ❇ Worchester vs. Georgia – 1832 – The Supreme Court held that
Cherokee Native Americans were entitled to federal protection from
some point!!
the actions of
State governments.
The Supreme 
Court is pushing 
o Barron vs. Baltimore – 1833 – The Supreme Court ruled it!! I swear… 
that the Bill of Rights applies only to actions of the federal gov- first it says that 
ernment, not to the states and local governments. state govern­
Can you see where  ments are below 
this is going? The Su­  Prigg vs. Pennsylvania – 1842 – Supreme Court ruled the Feds… now 
preme Court keeps  that all blacks were property and all those born in the country this!
making these… de­ were the slaves of the owners of the parents.
cisions and the coun­
try will end up at 
war!! With itself!
 The Dred Scott case - 1856 – Well, since this shall be the last
case I shall be covering, we’ll make this one nice and long… mainly be-
cause it’s one of the most important cases. It was the case that led to
the START of the CIVIL WAR!!
Those two words don’t go together in a sentence.

 Basically, Dred Scott was a slave who thought he was free be-
cause he had lived on free soil for a LOOOONG period of time. You’d
think you were free too if you’d live on free land, huh?

 Anyway, Dred Scott sued his “master” (Master, my butt!!)

but the Supreme Court sided with his “master”, saying
that no matter what, Dred Scott was still a slave! It didn’t
matter where he had lived. North wasn’t too happy with that, let me tell
you!

 That’s not all, The Supreme Court said that blacks were
never free and they would never be citizens. ALSO, no
state government had the right to ‘free’ slaves if they
were ‘free’ states. Stab in the back!

 So, now you see the cases that began in the beginning and led to
the CIVIL WAR. Make your own opinions on whether they were
good decisions or not… and study up!