Which Supreme Court ruling held that the authors of the U.S. Constitution did not intend for African Americans to be U.S. citizens?

The Supreme Court ruling in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford is significant because it directly addressed the status of African Americans in relation to U.S. citizenship. The Court determined that the framers of the Constitution did not view African Americans, whether enslaved or free, as citizens. This ruling effectively denied Dred Scott, a slave who had lived in free territories, the rights that would typically be afforded to citizens, including the right to sue in federal court.

This decision not only reinforced the prevailing attitudes toward race and citizenship at the time but also contributed to the tensions leading up to the Civil War. The Dred Scott decision was eventually nullified by the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves.

In contrast, the other cases mentioned focus on different issues such as "separate but equal" doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson, educational equality in Brown v. Board of Education, and the scope of congressional power in McCulloch v. Maryland, none of which dealt directly with the question of African American citizenship as addressed in Dred Scott v. Sandford.