Final answer:
The Dred Scott v. Sandford case determined in 1857 that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens, which denied Dred Scott his freedom and invalidated the Missouri Compromise. The correct answer is b. Black Americans could not be American citizens. Option b is the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
Dred Scott v. Sandford Decision
In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court made a landmark decision that further divided the nation on the issue of slavery. The Court ruled that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, could not be citizens of the United States and, therefore, lacked the standing to sue in federal court. This ruling effectively meant that Dred Scott, an enslaved man who had lived in free territories, was not entitled to his freedom on that basis. Moreover, the Court declared that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional as it prohibited the federal government from banning slavery in the territories, which removed restrictions on the expansion of slavery into these areas.
The correct option in relation to the Dred Scott decision's impact is b. Black Americans could not be American citizens. This decision negated the possibility of African Americans having federal citizenship and denied them the right to legal action in federal courts. The Dred Scott ruling increased tensions between the pro-slavery South and the abolitionist North and significantly shaped the course of American history leading up to the Civil War.
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