How Blacks Played a KEY ROLE In The Abolition of Slavery

 usually think it was all whites, and no blacks
(except for Union soldiers), that brought an end to slavery.  
Not so. Blacks played a central role.  
They did it in the person of Dred Scott.
His lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court.  
Chief Justice Taney. totally ruled against Dred Scott having any rights whatsoever.
 Taney struck down the 3 compromises that Congress had put together over the previous three decades.
 Taney ruled that slaves are property, pure and simple.
And since property is legal everywhere,  
owning slaves is legal EVERYWHERE in the country.  
No limits whatsoever.  
Taney's ruling was so extreme that the Democratic candidate for President,
 Stephen Douglass, distanced himself from it.  
He criticized, even condemned it !!
 This tempted Vice President Breckenridge to run for President as an independent Democrat !!  
He ran as a pro-Taney fanatic, splitting the Democratic vote.
 Together Douglass and Breckenridge gained 60% of the votes.
 So they had a clear majority - if only one candidate had run.
 But Breckenridge proudly defended Taney's decision, calling for all Southerners to become  
as zealous for slavery as Taney and the "fire-eaters" (the pro-slavery extremists).  
So Lincoln won with only 40% of the vote.  
Which automatically triggered the secession of the Southern states, which
 in turn led to Lincoln's military action to crush the rebellion.  
 
But my point is that Taney started the Civil War by unintentionally inciting Breckenridge
 to enter the race, thus splitting the Democratic vote !!  
But who gave Taney the anti-slavery lawsuit that enabled him to write  
a totally ridiculous pro-slavery decision, in the first place ??  
Dred Scott !! So Dred Scott deserves credit for Taney's decision to some extent !!
 And in turn for the war which brought an end to slavery !!
 He was one man,but he represented all the black slaves in the South !!