Analyzing a Seminal US Document

Question 1

Which statement best explains why a Supreme Court opinion is a seminal document?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: An opinion may create major changes in the laws or policies of the United States.

Question 2

Which statement is the best summary of the passage?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

B: Because Dred Scott was not a citizen, no court could hear his case.

Question 3

Which details does Taney use as evidence to support his reasoning? Check all that apply.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: “not a ‘citizen’ within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States”; D: “they were not regarded in any of the States as members of the community”; E: “not numbered among its ‘people or citizens’”

Question 4

The Supreme Court concluded that, because African Americans were not citizens when the Constitution was adopted, they could not be considered citizens in this case. What type of fallacy does this piece of evidence represent?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

B: genetic fallacy

Question 5

Which statement best counters Justice Taney’s argument regarding the Dred Scott case?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: Being born in the United States makes you a citizen of the United States.

Question 6

What quotations are evidence of the claim that the Constitution was not written to assert the rights of white people only? Check all that apply.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

C: “colored persons then possessed the elective franchise”; D: “that it was made exclusively for the white race is . . . contradicted by its opening declaration”; E: “free colored persons were then citizens of at least five States”

Analyzing a Seminal US Document Answers

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