Final answer:
The Dred Scott Decision exacerbated the North-South divide, increased slavery tensions, propelled abolitionism, and helped set the stage for the Civil War. It invalidated Republican anti-slavery platforms and emboldened Southern slaveholders, while enraging the North and contributing to sectional strife.
Step-by-step explanation:
Contributions of the Dred Scott Decision to the Civil War
The Dred Scott Decision of 1857 had profound impacts on the already contentious issue of slavery in the United States and contributed significantly to the events leading to the Civil War. First, the decision deepened the divide between the North and the South as it was seen by northerners as an extension of 'Southern Slave Power'. Republicans, in particular, were infuriated as the decision undermined their platform of preventing the spread of slavery into the territories, deeming such efforts unconstitutional. Secondly, it led to increased tensions over the issue of slavery, with the northern Democrats, such as Stephen Douglas, struggling to reconcile popular sovereignty with the Supreme Court's ruling.
Furthermore, the Dred Scott Decision furthered the cause of abolitionism in the North as more people refused to accept the legitimacy of the ruling. The decision suggested that slavery was a national institution, thus the only way to end it was through a constitutional amendment, a remote possibility at the time. Lastly, the ruling contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War by galvanizing the newly formed Republican Party and contributing to sectional strife. Events such as John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and the eventual election of Abraham Lincoln worsened relationships between slave and free states, hastening the secession of the southern states and the formation of the Confederate States of America.