years of age, he deemed it his duty to become a clergyman, and accordingly entered himself at Cambridge, took his degree of B. D. in 1834. and I h;ii nf D. D. in 1839. He first labored as chaplain of the Mariners' church at Liverpool, then removed In Exeter, and afterward became vicar of Brad- ford. After several years, his health failing, he resigned his charge and retired to Torquay, but continued his philanthropic efforts, and his physical researches, the latter mainly in regard to terrestrial magnetism and its relation to navigation. For the further and better prosecution of these researches, in 1847 Dr Scoresby made a voyage to the United States, and in 1853 to Australia in the Royal Charter." In addition to the works already named, Dr. Scoresby wrote "Discourses to Seamen" (1831); "Magnetical Observations" (3 parts, 1839-'52) ; "American Factories and their Female Operatives" (1848); "Lectures on Zoistic Magnetism" (1849); "Sabbaths in the Arctic Regions" (1850); "The Franklin Expedition " (1850) ; "My Father: being Records of the Adventurous Life of the late William Scoresby, Esq., of Whitby" {1851); and "Voyage to Australia and Round the World for Magnetical Research," edited by Archibald Smith (1859). His life has been written by R. E. Scoresby-Jackson. M. D. (London. 1861).
SCOTT, Andrew, Scottish poet. b. in Bowden, Roxburghshire, in 1757; d. there, 22 May, 1839. He was of humble parentage, and, after being employed as a cowherd, enlisted in the, army, served in this country during the Revolution, and was surrendered with Cornwallis's army at Yorkiown. While he was encamped on Staten island. Scott composed his "Betsey Roscoe," "The Oak-Tree," and many other songs. After the war he settled in his native parish as a farm-laborer. He became a protege of several well-known literary men, and published "Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" (Kelso, 1811); a second volume of poems (Jedburgh, 1821); and "Poems on Various Subjects"
(Edinburgh, 1826).
SCOTT, Charles, soldier, b. in Cumberland county, Va., in 1733 ; d. 22 Oct.. 1813. He served as a non-commissioned officer in Braddock's defeat
in 1755, and at the beginning of the struggle for independence raised and commanded the first company south of James river for the Revolutionary army. He was made colonel of the 3d Virginia battalion on 12 Aug., 1776, served with great credit at Trenton, and on 2 April, 1777, was promoted brigadier-general. During the next two campaigns he was with the army in New Jersey, and at a council of war voted with a minority of four generals to attack Philadelphia. He was with Gen. Anthony Wayne at Stony Point in 1779. in the following year was made a prisoner at Charleston, and was not exchanged until near the end of the war. In Lee's retreat at Monmouth he was the last to leave the field. Gen. Scott removed to Woodford county, Ky.. in 1785, and served as brigadier-general of Kentucky levies in Gen. Arthur St. Glair's defeat in 1791." Later in that year he commanded in a successful expedition to Wabash river, and in several actions with the Indians. In 1794 he led part of Gen. Anthony Wayne's army in the battle of Fallen-timbers. From 1808
till 1812 he was governor of Kentucky, and a town and county in that state were named in his honor. Gen. Scott was a man of strong natural powers,
but rough and eccentric in manner and somewhat illiterate. His brother, Joseph, also served with credit in the Revolution, rose to the rank of major, was wounded at Germantown, and after the war was U. S. marshal for Virginia. Joseph's son, Edward, lawyer (1774-1852), became a well-known lawyer in Tennessee, served as judge of the state circuit court in 1815-'46, and published "Laws of the Slate of Tennessee" (2 vols., Knoxville, 1821). Edward's son, Charles, lawyer, b. in Knoxville, Tenn., 12 Nov., 1811; d. in Jackson. Miss., 30 May, 1861, studied law. and began to practise in Nashville, where he married, but he afterward removed to Jackson, Miss., and formed a partnership with George S. Verger. In 1852 he was elected chancellor of the state. His decision in the case of Johnston vs. the State of Mississippi, establishing the liability of the state for the payment of the bonds of the Union bank, attracted much attention. In 1859 Judge Scott removed to Memphis. He was an active Freemason, and published "Analogy of Ancient Craft Masonry to Natural and Revealed Religion" (Philadelphia. 1849), and "The Keystone of the Masonic Arch" (Jackson, 1856).
SCOTT, Dred, slave, b. in Missouri about 1810;
d. after 1857. He was a negro slave, and about
1834 was taken by his master, Dr. Emerson, an
army surgeon, from Missouri to Rock Island, Ill.,
and then to Fort Snelling, in what was then
Wisconsin territory. Here he married, and two children
were born to him. On his return to Missouri
he sued in a local court in St. Louis to recover
his freedom and that of his family, since he had
been taken by his master to live in a free state.
Scott won his case, but his master now appealed
to the state supreme court, which, in 1852, reversed
the decision of the lower tribunal. Shortly afterward
the family were sold to a citizen of New
York, John F. A. Sandford, and, as this afforded a
ground for bringing a similar action in a Federal
court, Scott sued again for freedom, this time in the
U. S. circuit court in St. Louis in May, 1854. The
case was lost, but an appeal was made to the U. S.
supreme court, and, the importance of the matter
bring realized by a few eminent lawyers, several
offered to take part in the argument. Those on
Scott's side were Montgomery Blair and George T.
Curtis, while opposed to him were Reverdy Johnson
and Henry S. Geyer. None of these asked for
compensation. The case was tried in 1856, and
the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. A
brief opinion was prepared by Justice Nelson, but
before its public announcement it was decided by
the court that, in view of the importance of the
case and its bearing on the whole slavery question,
which was then violently agitating the country,
Chief-Justice Taney should write a more elaborate
one. Taney's opinion was read, 6 March, 1857,
two days after the inauguration of President
Buchanan, and excited intense interest throughout
the country on account of its extreme position in
favor of slavery. It affirmed, among other things,
that the act of congress that prohibited slavery
north of latitude 36° 30' was unconstitutional and
void. Thomas H. Benton said of this decision that
it made a new departure in the working of the
government, declaring slavery to be the organic
law of the land, while freedom was the exception.
The passage that was most widely quoted and most
unfavorably commented upon, was that in which
Taney described the condition of the negroes at
the adoption of the constitution, saying: “They
had for more than a century before been regarded
as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit
to associate with the white race, either in social or
political relations; and so far inferior, that they
had no rights which the white man was bound to
respect; and that the negro might justly and
lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.” Afterward
Scott and his family passed by inheritance
