outherners
approved the Dred Scott decision believing Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the
territories. The subject of this paper is to take a United States law, policy, or court ruling
and analyze it from the perspective of both John Stuart Mill and John Locke.
John Stuart Mill was a famous utilitarian philosopher, who had a Deontological
world view. What that means is you should do things because they are right, and not
worry about the consequences. If Mill were to look at the Dred Scott decision, he would
deem it unjust because the Supreme Court did not do the right thing they were more
concerned with the consequences of limiting the Southerners rights to have slaves.
According to Mill you are not free to lose your freedom. " He is no longer free; but is
thenceforth in a position which has no longer the presumption in its favour, that would be
afforded by his voluntarily remaining in it. The principle of freedom cannot require that he
should be free not to be free. It is not freedom to be allowed to alienate his freedom."(
Mill pg 536) That is informally known as Mill's Anti-Slavery principle. Mill would also
argue that the Supreme Court took part in what he dubs " the tyranny of the majority" in
deciding the Dred Scott case. " The Tyranny of the majority" is when you do something
solely based on public opinion. "the tyranny of the majority" is now generally included
among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard. Like other tyrannies, the
tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly held in dread, chiefly as operating
through the acts of the public authorities.But reflecting persons perceived that when
society is itself the tyrant-society collectively over the separate individuals who compose
it-its means of tyrannising are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its
political fu...