On ‘Constitution and Citizenship Day,’ Dred Scott Decision Still Relevant

On this day in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia—a date officially commemorated since 1940.

Constitution and Citizenship Day extols the two things that are the core of American ideology and identity. But not so for a large segment of America, historically and even today.

Legal scholar Paul Finkelman, who teaches constitutional law, legal history and race and the law at Albany Law School, discusses the constitutional origins of the issue of citizenship in a detailed examination of the landmark Dred Scott case.