Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney

Abstract

Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney JAMES F. SIMON* Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney may have met only twice—in 1849, when Lincoln made an oral argument before the Supreme Court, and in 1861, when Chief Justice Taney administered the presidential oath of office to Lincoln. The two men’s roles in American history are inextricably bound nonetheless, as I will attempt to demonstrate in this essay. The first meeting of Lincoln and Taney probably took place when Lincoln made his only argument before the Supreme Court of the United States in March 1849. It occurred shortly before he had completed his single— and, to Lincoln, very disappointing—term as a member ofthe U.S. House ofRepresentatives. At that time, he felt that he had made no signif­ icant mark in his two-year congressional term and was resigned to returning to Springfield to resume his full-time law practice.1 In his Supreme Court argument, Lincoln represented the estate of an Illinois resident, Matthew Broadwell, who in 1819 had sold a parcel ofland in Ohio to a man named William Lewis. The problem, Lewis later discovered, was that Broadwell did not own the land. After the rightful owner ejected Lewis from his land in 1825, Lewis sued Broadwell for damages.2 In his Supreme Court argument, Lincoln did not dispute that Broadwell had sold Lewis land that he did not own. He argued only that by the time Lewis sued, the statute of limi­ tations had run, so Lewis could not lawfully collect from Broadwell’s estate. It came down to a legal question of statutory interpretation. Lincoln lost the case, and ChiefJustice Taney wrote the majority opinion rejecting his argu­ ment.3 It was the first time that Lincoln and ChiefJustice Taney disagreed in a dispute be­ fore the Supreme Court, but it would not be the last. When Lincoln presented his argument in the Lewis case, the Justices of the Supreme Court did not sit in the current magnificent courtroom— or any other. In fact, they listened to Lincoln’s argument in a room in the base­ ment of the Capitol building. One member of the Court, Justice John Catron of Tennessee, later blamed the dark, dank basement quarters for the bad health of many ofthe Justices.4 We have no physical description of Lincoln when he argued the Lewis case 226 JOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY Lincoln argued one case before the Supreme Court, Lewis v. Lewis, in 1849, a mundane land-sale dispute that received little attention. Lincoln was admitted to the Supreme Court Bar on March 7 on the motion of Washington attorney Alexander H. Lawrence, who argued the case that day. As co-counsel, Lincoln made the concluding remarks the following day in what is now the refurbished Old Senate Chamber. before Chief Justice Taney and his Brethren. But thanks to photographs and contemporary accounts, we know that Lincoln was very tall—about 6'4"—and thin and spoke in a high, slightly shrill voice. His success as a trial lawyer was by then well established. He spoke plainly and effectively to bothjuries and judges.5 In his Supreme Court brief, Lincoln ap­ pealed to what he termed “the dictate of com­ mon sense,” which, he added, “seems to be the perfection of reason.” In urging the Court to adopt his statutory interpretation, Lincoln asked the Justices to draw their conclusions, in his words, “without any metaphysical or hair splitting distinctions.”6 When Taney heard Lincoln’s oral argu­ ment, the ChiefJustice was seventy-two years old, thirty-two years older than Lincoln. Like Lincoln, Taney was tall and thin. But unlike the Illinois lawyer, Taney never possessed Lin­ coln’s physical vigor. Since Taney had been a young lawyer in Maryland, he regularly com­ plained that the stress of his work threat­ ened his health. His complaints were con­ stant, and so was his success as a trial lawyer and as the state’s attorney general. Later, he served President Andrew Jackson as U.S. At­ torney General and Secretary of the Treasury and shared Jackson’s aversion to vested cor­ porate interests. Taney, like President Jackson , was an avowed...