Lincoln and Taney

[Rick Smith]

(02-04-2015 07:23 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Taney was not the author of the Fugitive Slave Law. He was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the time (1836-1864) that the Law was written. The judicial branch does not write laws; it only interprets them according to Constitutionality.

Dred Scott took advantage of his situation to appeal his case for freedom all the way to the Supreme Court in 1857. Under Taney's court, it was ruled (Bill, the vote was 7 for and 2 dissenting) basically that African Americans were considered inferior when the Constitution was being drafted and equated basically with personal property if enslaved and non-citizens if free. People of the Negroid race were, therefore, not entitled to the rights of citizens -- and Dred Scott, himself, did not have legal standing to even petition the court for his freedom. I would say that the Court's decision was based on Constitutionality, not racism.

BTW: Like most Marylanders, Taney believed in states' rights, but did not want to see the Union dissolved. He remained a Unionist and as Chief Justice throughout the war. He had also manumitted his slaves long before the new Maryland state constitution outlawing slavery in our state went into effect on November 1, 1864. He had died on the day that the state ratified that new constitution (sometime in October of 1864). Despite his long service to his country, I don't believe that Lincoln recognized his death. I know he did not attend his funeral. Only Attorney General Bates attended.

I learned a lot about Taney when I included him on a panel in one of the Civil War exhibits we have done over the past five years. I have had a soft spot for him for about twenty years - ever since his longstanding name was removed from one of the schools in our county and replaced with that of Thurgood Marshall. No reflection on Marshall, but that stuck in my craw as being a tad racist also. They then went to work on trying to get his impressive statue removed from the State House grounds in Annapolis. I think that is still firmly entrenched.

Here's a trivia question: Who was the wife of Roger B. Taney? And, don't say "Mrs. Taney..."

This reflects pretty poorly on Mr. Lincoln.

And of course, history looks favorably on the martyred Lincoln and Taney is a white supremacist. How very nice.

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Branding Taney as a racist is a false argument. It is looking at a 19th century issue through a 21st century lens. If you do this, be prepared to apply the same sobriquet to Lincoln.

With many of the not so favorable things he said regarding blacks, Lincoln would certainly be labeled a racist by today's standards.