Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, popularly known as the "Dred Scott decision". The Scotts claimed that they should be granted freedom because Dred had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal, and laws in those jurisdictions said that slave holders gave up their rights to slaves if they stayed for an extended period.

Samuel M. Bay was an American lawyer who represented Dred Scott in the 1847 Scott v. Emerson case. He was known for his prosecution of Dedimus Buell Burr, who had put ground glass in his ill wife's food over time. He practiced law in Jefferson and St. Louis, Missouri. Bay served in the Missouri Legislature beginning in 1836 and was appointed as Missouri Attorney General from 1839 to 1845.