As a senator, lincoln feared that the eventual result of the dred scott decision would be that

  He feared that slavery could spread into the free-states.

Explanation:

  The Dred Scott decision was a United States Supreme Court case in which a slave demanded his freedom because he had been in two free states before returning back to Missouri. The Supreme Court decision declared that as a slave Dred Scott was not considered a U.S. citizen. As a non-citizen, he had no right to sue in a Federal Court.

  Lincoln reacted with disgust to the ruling and publicly speak out against it.

  I hope this answer helps you.

explanation: we can only guess at how our actions may be perceived in the future. doing something really big like killing lots of people, saving lots of people, affecting the lives of lots of people is a sure fire way of being remembered in historical records. we can also make a difference in the history records by being a small influence on something bigger, whether that is as a civil servant, scientist or artist.

of course you could argue that we all affect history just as tiny cogs in a   bigger machine.

if you mean how do people influence our opinions of things which have already happened, then simply by writing a book which looks at things form a different perspective and trying to convince people that this perspective is more accurate or truthful. people do it all the time i.e. richard the third was a terrible or was he? plenty would disagree, it's just that their views aren't the most widely known.n:

what are the options so i can answer it