Roger Taney
| Roger Taney | |
|---|---|
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| 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court | |
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In office March 15, 1836 – October 12, 1864 |
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| Nominated by | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | John Marshall |
| Succeeded by | Salmon Chase |
| 12th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
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In office September 23, 1833 – June 25, 1834 |
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| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | William Duane |
| Succeeded by | Levi Woodbury |
| 11th United States Attorney General | |
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In office July 20, 1831 – November 14, 1833 |
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| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | John Berrien |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Butler |
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United States Secretary of War Acting |
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In office June 18, 1831 – August 1, 1831 |
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| President | Andrew Jackson |
| Preceded by | John Eaton |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Cass |
| Attorney General of Maryland | |
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In office September 1827 – June 18, 1831 |
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| Governor |
Joseph Kent Daniel Martin Thomas Carroll Daniel Martin |
| Preceded by | Thomas Kell |
| Succeeded by | Josiah Bayly |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Roger Brooke Taney March 17, 1777 Calvert County, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | October 12, 1864 (aged 87) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party |
Federalist (Before 1828) Democratic (1828–1864) |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Key |
| Education | Dickinson College (BA) |
| Signature |  |
Roger Brooke Taney (/ˈtɔːni/; March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. He delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), that ruled, among other things, that African-Americans, having been considered inferior at the time the United States Constitution was drafted, were not part of the original community of citizens and, whether free or slave, could not be considered citizens of the United States, which created an uproar among abolitionists and the free states of the northern U.S. He was the first Roman Catholic (and first non-Protestant) appointed both to a presidential cabinet, as Attorney General under President Andrew Jackson, as well as to the Court.
Taney, a Jacksonian Democrat, was made Chief Justice by Jackson. Taney was a believer in states' rights but also the Union, a slaveholder who manumitted his slaves. He believed that power and liberty were extremely important and if power became too concentrated, then it posed a grave threat to individual liberty. He opposed attempts by the national government to regulate or control matters that would restrict the rights of individuals. From Prince Frederick, Maryland, he had practiced law and politics simultaneously and succeeded in both. After abandoning the Federalist Party as a losing cause, he rose to the top of the state's Jacksonian machine. As Attorney General (1831–1833) and then Secretary of the Treasury (1833–1834), and as a prominent member of the Kitchen Cabinet, Taney became one of Jackson's closest advisers, assisting Jackson in his populist crusade against the powerful Bank of the United States.
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