Roger Brooke Taney vided.
153
But with great strength of will
demanded in judicial expression, was so
he fought both. He availed himself of every opportunity which offered to
limpidly clear as to be sought as a model by Chief Justice Chase who succeeded
speak either in the court room or on the
him, his spoken word accompanied by robust argumentation, and presented
hustings. It is not improbable that these disabilities were intensified by his always delicate and often infirm health, and the untiring efforts which he was
obliged to put forth when coming in con tact as he frequently did with those great leaders. As Webster strove with Jeremiah Mason, Franklin Dexter and
Rufus Choate until he met them on
with sincerity and conviction, well may
have been of commanding power, whether addressed to the court or to a jury. Of his pure and upright life, his strength of character, his uniform cour
tesy to all with whom he came in con
more than an equal footing, so Taney
tact, his independent thought, his demo cratic breadth, from his early manhood
overcame these limitations until he en
to the close of life, there is today no ques
countered the prominent men not only
tion. Born and nurtured in a slave holding community, his father a slave holder, Taney did not hesitate to defend
of the Maryland bar as their equal, and had his claim allowed, but in the larger forum; and before the court of which he
Gruber, a Methodist minister, who ad
was to become the official head, he did not hesitate to engage with William Wirt, or expose himself to the mighty
dressed about four hundred negroes denouncing slavery, causing his prose
cution for sedition.
In his closing ad
Nor did
dress to the jury which acquitted the defendant, he used this language, which seems to have voiced his convictions as a man, for he manumitted the slaves
he make a single quotation from the
afterwards inherited from his father,
poets.
and never was a slave owner :
grip of Webster.
He has been described
by a contemporary “as seeking no aid from the rules of rhetoric nor from the
supplied graces of elocution.
Yet his English was always
chaste and classical, and his eloquence undoubtedly was great, sometimes im petuous and overwhelming. He spoke when excited from the feelings of his heart, and as his heart was right, he
spoke with prodigious effect." The wine of his opinions, as Dr. John son said of Bacon’s writings, “is a dry wine.”
But his use of English as a tool
was masterly.
Tyler in his memoir tells
us, "he was a diligent student.
Law was
his chief study, but he devoted much time to the study of history and letters. He
not only studied thoughts but be studied words with uncommon care.
vated a severe taste.”
He culti
If his written
A hard necessity indeed compels us to endure the evils of slavery for a time. It was imposed upon us by another nation while we were yet in a state of colonial vassalage. It cannot be easily or suddenly removed. Yet while it continues it is a blot on our national character, and every lover of freedom
confidently hopes that it will be efiectually, though it must be gradually wiped away, and earnestly looks for the means by which this necessary object may be obtained.
The road then as now to large public preferment lay through the field of politics, and Taney, in party affiliation a. Federalist, entered the political arena. He was defeated for the House of Dele gates, but became a member of the state
style, which is said to have been formed
senate,
from the reading of Shakspere and Ma
contest as a Representative to Congress, owing to the dissensions of the Federalist
caulay, but tempered with the calmness
although
unsuccessful
in
his
