In 1857, the Supreme Court, with 7 of the 9 Justices being Democrat, decided that Dred Scott was not a citizen, but property. Chief Justice Roger Taney was appointed by the first Democrat President, Andrew Jackson. Taney wrote in his Dred Scott decision that slaves were "so far inferior ... that the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for their own benefit." Abraham Lincoln did not believe in "stare decisis" - that he had to honor the precedent of the Dred Scott decision, stating June 28, 1857: "We think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We know...