A 4/20 Tribute With a Bonus History Lesson

A couple of days ago my history class was discussing the Case of Dred Scott. For those who don't know he was a slave who's master took him to Illinois where he lived for a number of years before his master died. Dred Scott promptly returned to Missouri and sued the master's widow for freedom. His logic of course was that since he had lived in a free state he should be free. Well, this sure did make the justices of the Supreme Court scratch their heads. They realized that the constitution was not very clear at all, and it took quite a lot of time for them to decide how they would interpret the law regarding the issue. In the end, to the South's satisfaction, the court ruled that Dred Scott would remain a slave. Their logic being that the constitution clearly states that a slave is not a citizen and therefore Dred Scott had no right to sue in the first place.


The interesting part in the issue was their ruling that the Missouri Compromise Line was unconstitutional. This line divided the free states from the slave states. The Court said that it was in violation of the V Amendment or the right to not have your property taken away without the due process of law. For example, since a slave was seen as property, once a slave owner entered a free state with a slave they were technically not to allowed to own said slave anymore. This was unconstitutional. Conclusion? Missouri Compromise Line gots ta go.

Now, as interesting as all this American History is, you must be wondering what I'm getting at, no? Well, our assignment in class was to decide whether or not Dred Scott should be a slave (this was pre-acquisition of the knowledge above). It was tres difficult, so I decided to come up with an analogy: If one where to buy Marijuana legally in Amsterdam, would it be illegal to be in the US, or If one bought Marijuana illegally in the US would it be legal to smoke it in Amsterdam? Interesting now isn't it? Well, the answer for both is probably: How would you get it on the plane?; but once it was there, in Amsterdam, could I smoke it?

Before I leave I would like to make a disclaimer that I am not a "pot head" nor have ever smoked Marijuana, but one can't keep the mind from wandering, can they?