The Taney Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy (ABC-Clio Supreme Court Handbooks)

304 Pages·2003·2.19 MB·English

by  Timothy Huebner

The Taney Court
ABC-CLIO SUPREME COURT HANDBOOKS
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Peter G. Renstrom, Series Editor
ABC-CLIO SUPREME COURT HANDBOOKS
The Taney Court
Justices,
Rulings, and
Legacy
Timothy S. Huebner
ABC-CLIO
Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England
Copyright © 2003 by Timothy S. Huebner
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys-
tem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without
prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Huebner, Timothy S. , 1966–
The Taney Court:justices, rulings, and legacy / Timothy S. Huebner.
p. cm.—(ABC-CLIO SupremeCourt handbooks)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57607-368-8 (hardcover: alk. paper) ISBN 1-57607-369-6 (e-book)
1. United States. Supreme Court—History—19th century. 2. Taney, Roger Brooke,
1777–1864. 3. Constitutional history—United States. I. Title. II. Series.
KF8742.H79 2003
347. 73'26'09—dc22
2003018224
07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ABC-CLIO, Inc.
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper I.
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Kristin,
who was there from beginning to end

Contents
Series Foreword, ix
Preface, xi
PART ONE
Justices, Rulings, and Legacy, 1
1 The Taney Court and the Period, 3
The Jacksonian Era and the Supreme Court, 4
The Supreme Court and the Sectional Conflict, 15
Secession, Civil War, and Lincoln’s Supreme Court, 21
References and Further Reading, 29
2 The Justices, 31
The Chief Justice, 32
The Old Guard, 42
Jackson’s Early Appointments, 51
Jackson’s Later Appointments, 63
The Democratic Justices, 72
The Lone Whig, 97
The Civil War Justices, 101
Conclusion, 112
References and Further Reading, 113
3 Major Decisions, 115
Contracts, Finance, and Economic Development, 115
The Legal Status of Corporations, 128
Separation of Powers, 134
Commercial Regulation and Admiralty Jurisdiction, 142
Slavery, 155
The Dred ScottCase and Its Aftermath, 165
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viii
Contents
Conclusion, 172
References and Further Reading, 172
4 Legacy and Impact, 175
The Disputed Reputation of Roger B. Taney, 175
The Constitutional and Political Legacy of the Taney Court, 185
References and Further Reading, 193
PART TWO
Reference Materials, 195
Key People, Laws, and Events, 197
Excerpts from Landmark Decisions, 211
Chronology, 241
Table of Cases, 249
Glossary, 253
Annotated Bibliography, 261
Index, 269
About the Author, 289
Series Foreword
T
here is an extensive literature on the U.S. Supreme Court, but it contains dis-
cussion familiar largely to the academic community and the legal profession.
The ABC-CLIO Supreme Court series is designed to have value to the aca-
demic and legal communities also, but each volume is intended as well for the gen-
eral reader who does not possess an extensive background on the Court or American
constitutional law. The series is intended to effectively represent each of fourteen
periods in the history of the Supreme Court with each of these fourteen eras defined
by the chief justice beginning with John Jay in 1789. Each Court confronted consti-
tutional and statutory questions that were of major importance to and influenced by
the historical period. The Court’s decisions were also influenced by the values of each
of the individual justices sitting at the time. The issues, the historical period, the jus-
tices, and the Supreme Court’s decisions in the most significant cases will be exam-
ined in the volumes of this series.
ABC-CLIO’s Supreme Court series provides scholarly examinations of the Court
as it functioned in different historical periods and with different justices. Each vol-
ume contains information necessary to understand each particular Court and an
interpretative analysis by the author of each Court’s record and legacy. In addition to
representing the major decisions of each Court, institutional linkages are examined
as well—the political connections among the Court, Congress, and the president.
These relationships are important for several reasons. Although the Court retains
some institutional autonomy, all the Court’s justices are selected by a process that
involves the other two branches. Many of the significant decisions of the Court
involve the review of actions of Congress or the president. In addition, the Court fre-
quently depends on the other two branches to secure compliance with its rulings.
The authors of the volumes in the ABC-CLIO series were selected with great care.
Each author has worked extensively with the Court, the period, and the personalities
about which he or she has written. ABC-CLIO wanted each of the volumes to examine
several common themes, and each author agreed to work within certain guidelines.
Each author was free, however, to develop the content of each volume, and many of the
volumes advance new or distinctive conclusions about the Court under examination.
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