36 The Late Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. 



to justify the uncalled for decision of a bare majority of the 

 court, denying to congress the right of affirmative legisla- 

 tion over a territory, on one subject only. The fame of 

 the chief justice is secure, if it be left to the main current 

 and tenor of his life : it is not so secure when it is made 

 to hinge on the correctness of a judgment hardly supported 

 by the strict letter of the law, with an adverse action upon 

 a disfranchised race. 



The chief justice had presided over the court now more 

 than twenty years, and he was in the eightieth year of his 

 age when the opinion was pronounced. It is scarcely fair 

 to his memory, to seize upon the decision as a just crite- 

 rion of his merits as a magistrate. It may show, it certainly 

 does show, great intellectual vigor. 



It is claimed in his defence, and the remark is often 

 made, that he did not express it as his personal opinion that 

 " a negro has no rights which a white man is bound to re- 

 spect." And this claim is literally true ; he attributes this 

 opinion to the people and age in which the constitution 

 was framed : the apology is nevertheless one of verbal cri- 

 ticism, rather than one of substance ; because, as we under- 

 stand the subject, it is the opinion then pronounced by the 

 court which was relied upon to infuse that opinion into 

 the constitution. A plain man cannot find the sentiment 

 in the words of that great document ; and if he deal 

 candidly with the history of those times, he will be slow, 

 he will hesitate to impute to its framers an opinion so 

 iniquitous and so at war with historic truth. 



We have here a peculiar phase of character. This emi- 

 nent man refused to own a slave, and yet gave the weight 

 of his office and juridical skill to strengthen an evil heritage. 

 Full of clemency towards the individual, he almost created 

 a common law to uphold the system. 



Let us however deal justly with his memory. He showed 

 no bias of mind in his ordinary duties as a judge. He 



