Editing Dred Scott v. Sandford (section)

==== Irene Sanford Emerson ====
Before the end of the year, the army reassigned Emerson to [[Fort Jesup]] in [[Louisiana]], where Emerson married Eliza Irene Sanford in February 1838. Emerson sent for Scott and Harriet, who proceeded to Louisiana to serve their master and his wife. Within months, Emerson was transferred back to Fort Snelling. While en route to Fort Snelling, Scott's daughter Eliza was born on a steamboat under way on the Mississippi River between Illinois and what would become Iowa. Because Eliza was born in free territory, she was technically born as a free person under both federal and state laws. Upon entering Louisiana, the Scotts could have sued for their freedom, but did not. One scholar suggests that, in all likelihood, the Scotts would have been granted their freedom by a Louisiana court, as it had respected laws of free states that slaveholders forfeited their right to slaves if they brought them in for extended periods. This had been the holding in Louisiana state courts for more than 20 years.{{sfnp|Finkelman|2007}}

Toward the end of 1838, the army reassigned Emerson back to Fort Snelling. By 1840, Emerson's wife Irene returned to St. Louis with their slaves, while Dr. Emerson served in the [[Seminole War]]. While in St. Louis, she hired them out. In 1842, Emerson left the army. After he died in the Iowa Territory in 1843, his widow Irene inherited his estate, including the Scotts. For three years after John Emerson's death, she continued to lease out the Scotts as hired slaves. In 1846, Scott [[Manumission#United States|attempted to purchase]] his and his family's freedom, but Irene Emerson refused, prompting Scott to resort to legal recourse.<ref name="Fehrenbacher 2001">Don E. Fehrenbacher, ''The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics'' (2001)</ref>