The following is a list of American court cases concerning slavery.
| Date | Case | Court | Ruling |
| 1781 | Brom and Bett v. Ashley | Berkshire County Court of Common Pleas | Slaves Brom and Bett (Elizabeth Freeman) were freed on the basis that the Massachusetts constitutional provision that "all men are born free and equal" abolished slavery in the state. |
| 1781 | Quock Walker v. Jennison | Worcester County Court of Common Pleas | Jennison's slave, Quock Walker, was found to be a freedman on the basis that slavery was contrary to the Bible and the Massachusetts Constitution. |
| 1783 | Commonwealth v. Jennison | Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court | Justice William Cushing instructs jury that "slavery is in my judgment as effectively abolished as it can be by the granting of rights and privileges wholly incompatible and repugnant to its existence."[1] |
| 1818 | Harry v. Decker & Hopkins | Supreme Court of Mississippi | Decker's slave Harry was freed, and slaves residing in the Northwest Territory become free as per the Ordinance of 1787, and may assert their rights in court |
| 1820 | Polly v. Lasselle | Supreme Court of Indiana | Indiana gave freedom to blacks who had been slaves prior to Indiana's constitutional ban on slavery |
| 1830 | North Carolina v. Mann | Supreme Court of North Carolina | Where slaveowners had absolute authority over their slaves and could not be found guilty of committing violence against them |
| 1834 | Rachel v. Walker | Supreme Court of Missouri | A lawsuit involving a slave who, in 1834, sued for her freedom from John Walker in the Supreme Court of Missouri, and won |
| 1838 | Hinds v. Brazealle | Supreme Court of Mississippi | Denied a deed of manumission in Ohio for a citizen of Mississippi's mixed race son and his slave mother, because it was against Mississippi statutes, and was considered fraud |
| 1841 | United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad | Supreme Court of the United States | As the Africans in questions were never legal property, they were not criminals, but rather unlawfully kidnapped, and were directed to the President to be transported to Africa |
| 1842 | Prigg v. Pennsylvania | Supreme Court of the United States | Overturned the conviction of slavecatcher Edward Prigg based on the ruling that Federal law supersedes State law |
| 1851 | Strader v. Graham | Supreme Court of the United States | The status of three slaves who traveled from Kentucky to Indiana and Ohio depended on Kentucky law rather than Ohio law |
| 1953 | Holmes v. Ford | Oregon Territorial Supreme Court | Granted freedom to a family of slaves who had come to Oregon with their master from Missouri, as it violated the Organic Laws of Oregon |
| 1852 | Lemmon v. New York | Superior Court of the City of New York | Granted freedom to slaves who were brought into New York by their Virginia slave owners, while in transit to Texas |
| 1857 | Dred Scott v. Sanford | Supreme Court of the United States | People of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants — whether or not they were slaves — were not protected by the Constitution and could never be citizens of the United States. |
| 1859 | Ableman v. Booth | Supreme Court of the United States | held that state courts cannot issue rulings that contradict the decisions of federal courts, in this case concerning unconstitutionality ruling of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 by Wisconsin Supreme Court |