The Court held that persons of African descent were not 'citizens' even if they lived in a free state, and therefore they were not entitled to any rights.

• A. Dred Scott v. Sanford
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Brown v. Board
• D. Roe v. Wade

Answer: (A)

Citizenship and protection under the Constitution are at play here. The court in this case ruled that persons of African descent were not citizens, even if they lived in a free state, so they could not claim the constitutional rights or sue in federal courts. This decision asserted that African Americans were not intended to be part of the political community described by the Constitution, and it held that Congress could not prohibit slavery in new territories, effectively treating enslaved people as property rather than people with rights. That ruling had vast, lasting implications for civil rights and was later overturned by the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship and equal protection. The other cases involve different issues—segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, school desegregation in Brown v. Board, and abortion rights in Roe v. Wade—so they do not address citizenship status or rights in the way described here.