4. A very important case decided by Chief Justice Taney was that of _Dred Scott_ vs. _Sandford_ in 1857. Dred Scott, a negro slave in Missouri, had been carried into the Territory of Minnesota, where, by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, slavery did not exist. Upon being carried back into Missouri by his master, Scott claimed his freedom upon the ground that he had been voluntarily carried into a Territory where slavery was not allowed. The Supreme Court in its decision declared that Congress had never had the power to pass any law which would forbid slave-owners settling in Territories and still retaining control of their slaves. The whole country was at this time in great excitement in regard to the question whether or not, in the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska into States, slavery should be prohibited, and this decision, whereby the Missouri Compromise Act was practically annulled, and which pointed directly forward to an establishment of slavery in the new Territories, raised public excitement to a fever heat. It was in this decision that the statement was made that at the time of the formation of the Constitution the general opinion had been that the colored man had no rights which the white man was bound to respect. As a direct result of this case a more determined stand was taken at the North against slavery; the Anti-Slavery Republican party was strengthened, and their candidate for President, Abraham Lincoln, elected in 1861, and the catastrophe of civil war precipitated. 5. The Legal-Tender decisions, given in several cases soon after the civil war, are important. During the progress of the war the Government, in order to raise funds to meet its extraordinary expenses, had been forced to issue slips of paper which represented no deposits of coin in the Treasury, but only promises to pay certain sums by the Government. These were declared legal tender, that is, made by law as good as gold and silver, and the people were forced to receive them in payment of debts and for commodities. It was questioned whether the Government had by the Constitution power to do this. The legal-tender decisions declared that it had. Judicial System and Jurisdiction of the United States Courts. _#District Courts.#_--The United States is divided into judicial districts. Many single States form a judicial district, while others are divided into two and others into three districts. The number of districts has varied. At present there are about sixty. To each of these districts is given a court and a district judge. These form the lowest grade of Federal courts.