Scott vs. Stanford: A Decision That Would Change the Future“You don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference” in the world. But you have to know the few big things that matter, maybe just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people who make a lasting difference in the world are not those who have learned many things, but those who have mastered one great thing.” This quote was said by John Piper, a well-known preacher and author. Piper gave people hope, just like Dred Scott. Scott survived the Herculean battle on the road to freedom. He begged for his family's withdrawal from slavery; however, he ultimately ended up suing his master in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. This gave hope and courage to slaves who wanted to stand up to their masters to break their endless ties to slavery. Scott has dedicated much of his life to this. He made lasting change in this world by helping lead the “rebellious South” and the “infallible North” into Civil War. All in all, Dred Scott was a simple slave who led a complex life, a man who sued for his freedom, and a hero to slaves for helping lead the United States into the Civil War. Dred Scott did not have the same childhood that a child might have today, simply because he was a slave. Dred Scott was born in Southampton County, Virginia in 1785. Scott's parents originally named him Sam, but decided to change it to Dred when his older brother named Dred died as a young man ("A Chronology of an Age"). No one knows Scott's exact date and place of birth since he was a slave. No person would have cared enough to notice such details. Furthermore, many believed that his arrival as nothing... middle of paper... was a brave hero in the eyes of all slaves, helping to eliminate slavery throughout the United States. He did not live to see the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in 1861, but he lived a year in freedom. Dred Scott would not have expected the outcome of his case to be the end of slavery in the United States when he sued just for his family's freedom in the Old Courthouse in St. Louis. “After the Civil War ended slavery, Scott's descendants continued to build new lives. Dred Scott Madison became a police officer. In a later generation, John A. Madison became a lawyer who practiced in the very same courthouse where Dred Scott had been denied the right to sue” (Hoehner 19). As Brad Henry, former governor of Oklahoma, always says: “Believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place. Be confident in your abilities, work hard and there is nothing you can't achieve.”