The use of power

 

An interesting item came up for auction last week: A signed written request from Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert B. Taney to President John Tyler.

First some context …

At fifty-one years of age, Tyler became the tenth President of the United States, following the untimely death of President William Henry Harrison who, on his 32nd day, became the first President to die in office, having served the shortest tenure in U.S. Presidential history.

Tyler, dubbed “His Accidency” by his detractors, found himself the first Vice President to be elevated to the office of President by the death of his predecessor …having served a mere thirty-one days in the position.

Some thirty months later, Monday, October 2, 1843, President Tyler received a written request signed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney.

Taney, who had been appointed by President Andrew Jackson to succeed the late John Marshall as the Country’s fifth Chief Justice in 1835, after the Democrats took control of the Senate, was known for his fragile stature and firm opinions. Taney led a controversial life while serving on the Supreme Court.

However, by the early 1850s, Taney had managed to garner reasonable respect. Enough so, that some elected officials saw it as an opportunity for the Supreme Court to settle the national debate over slavery. Taney, who supported slavery, was outraged by Northern attacks on the institution.

On March 6, 1857, in the infamous case of Dred Scott v. John Sanford, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that African Americans were not and could not be citizens.

The decision and its inflammatory language aggravated the political crisis and met with furious opposition among Republicans. Taney remained defiant. Writing to Franklin Pierce in 1857, he insolently declared that he believed with “abiding confidence that this act of my judicial life will stand the test of time and the sober judgment of the country.”

In response, Republican Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts declared:

“I speak what cannot be denied when I declare that the opinion of the Chief Justice in the case of Dred Scott was more thoroughly abominable than anything of the kind in the history of courts. Judicial baseness reached its lowest point on that occasion. You have not forgotten that terrible decision where a most unrighteous judgment was sustained by a falsification of history. Of course, the Constitution of the United States and every principle of Liberty was falsified, but historical truth was falsified also.”

The decision played a role in propelling Abraham Lincoln—an outspoken anti-slavery voice—into the White House. Taney continues to have a controversial historical reputation and his Dred Scott ruling is widely considered to be the worst Supreme Court decision ever made.

Back to the written request …

President Tyler forwards a request from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney to most likely Secretary of War James M. Porter. Tyler writes: “The Secretary will forward this letter from the Chief Justice of the United States to Mr. Thompson with a request that he will do what may properly [underlined] lie in his power to obtain the discharge of young Mr. Taney (Chief Justice Robert B. Taney’s son).”

The auction house comments in the item overview:

“It is almost incomprehensible that Tyler would in any way use the power of the Executive Branch of the government to offer any personal favor or service to Taney, the head of the Judicial Branch, especially in obtaining a release for Taney’s son from the armed services. If this memo had been released at the time, Tyler’s detractors would have howled. Today, such a request, if it had indeed been fulfilled, would call for impeachment for the President, and removal from office for the Chief Justice.”

As Lincoln’s biographer Robert Green Ingersoll put it: “Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. . . . If you wish to know what a man really is, give him power.”

And I would further add:

“The ultimate test of character for people in power is how they treat people who lack it.”—Adam Grant.