Passed Chief Justices - # 5 – Roger Brooke Taney

Bust of Chief Justice Taney, U.S. Supreme Court,

Washington, D.C. (11 April 2019)

Recently, our Supreme Court denied President Trump’s attempt to overturn birthright citizenship as stipulated in the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. What a coincidence. The next one up in my Departed Chief Justice Chase is Number 5. What better time to pause on travels and visit the author of what many believe is the worst decision the Court ever made.

For almost 63 years in the 19th century, just two men held the position of Chief Justice of the United States…John Marshall, the GOAT, served more than 34 years and his successor another 28-plus years. Only two other Chief Justices served more than twenty years and one is the current Chief, John Roberts. While Marshall served during the terms of six presidents, Taney was in the chair for ten administrations.

Roger B. Taney, Fifth Chief Justice of the United States

(Photographed by Matthew Brady late in his career)

Born during the Revolution to a wealthy slave-owning family in southern Maryland, he read the law and rose through state politics. By the time Andrew Jackson became president, Taney changed parties and became a Democrat. He served briefly in the Jackson administration as Secretary of State, Treasury and War before his appointment as the fifth Chief Justice on the high court.

The decades before the Civil War were ones of brief presidencies, national expansion, and constant tension regarding our ‘Original Sin,’ the institution of slavery.

Taney is remembered (and reviled) because he wrote the dreadful Dred Scott decision in 1857. Congress couldn’t settle the slavery issue so both sides thought they might gain the traction they needed with a favorable decision by the Supreme Court. Sound familiar?

We talk of the divisions on today’s Supreme Court. It’s the Conservatives and the Liberals. In 1857, the court was more divided with Southern, pro-slavery and Northern, abolitionist justices. Taney and his 7-2 majority hoped to permanently remove slavery as a topic of national debate.

Mr. Scott claimed to be free because his owners had taken him to live in free states and territories. Roger and his confederates thought otherwise. Here’s how they thought to settle the issue for good. The decision held that:

1. No African American, free or enslaved, enjoyed the rights of a citizen under our Constitution. Because Mr. Scott was Black, he had no right to bring a lawsuit.
2. The Missouri Compromise (which barred slavery north of a defined latitude) was unconstitutional
3. Congress did not have the power to bar slavery in any of the western territories. Only the states can bar slavery.
4. Finally, Mr. Scott. You’re a slave again. Have a nice day.

And four years later, we were at war with ourselves.

Statue of Roger B. Taney by William Henry Rinehart [1872]

Capitol Grounds, Annapolis MD (25 April 2015)

Erected eight years after he died, a statue of the Chief Justice was placed in a prominent location near the Maryland State capitol in Annapolis. Our small state has not produced any presidents and few other figures of national stature. After Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, he was our only other national guy...not exactly a pair to be proud of.

I’m glad I got this image when I did since the statue was removed in 2017 following the public outrage after the White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia resulted in the death of a counter protester. At the same time, Baltimore City also removed a replica of the Taney statue and three Confederate monuments. Nine years later, I suspect they are still in storage somewhere in Baltimore county.

Modern Headstone at Grave of Roger B. Taney,

St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Frederick, MD (19 September 2017)

Over the years, I have heard his name as “TAY-nee” or “Tan-ee”
No one from Maryland, in the media or on the streets does that. Around here, it’s “TAW-nee.” Northwest of Baltimore is his namesake village, “Taw-nee-town.”

Gravesite of Roger B. Taney, St. John the Evangelist Cemetery,

Frederick, MD (19 September 2017)

Name – Roger Brooke Taney

Born – 17 March 1777; Calvert County, MD

Died – 12 October 1864; Washington, D.C. (age 87)

Nominated by – Andrew Jackson

Preceded by – John Marshall

Succeeded by – Salmon Chase

Served as Chief Justice – 28 March 1836 – 12 October 1864

(28 years, 198 days)

Resting Place – St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, Frederick, MD

Date Visited – 19 September 2017