The U. S. Supreme Court and its Decisions.Columbus, Ohio, State Journal [Republican](14 March 1857)
The United States Supreme Court consists of
of nine judges. The following five, or a
majority of one, adopt the decision in the Dred Scott
case and its accompanying doctrines, which were
read on Friday by Chief Justice Taney:--
- Roger B. Taney of Maryland.
- John A. Campbell of Alabama.
- John Catron of Tennessee.
- James H. Wayne of Georgia.
- Peter V. Daniel of Virginia
These are all the judges who reside in the
slave states. They represent and avow boldly
the new opinions of their section, that slavery is
a national institution, the equal of freedom, and
that all prohibition of it in the territories,
either by Congress or the people, is unconstitutional.
The two following judges dodge the
general slavery issues, and the question of the
constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise,
but come to the same conclusion with the
majority, as to Dred Scott, i. e., that he and his
family are slaves, by holding that it depended
on the law of Missouri, and that declaring them
slaves, they sustain it:--
- Samuel Nelson of New York.
- Robert C. Grier of Pennsylvania.
These men are northern democrats. Their
course is consistent with the tribe of doughfaces
whom they represent. There remain two judges
who, alone, have manfully upheld the faith of
the nation, the practice of the past, and the
universal sentiment still of the North:--
- John McLean of Ohio.
- Benjamin R. Curtis of Massachusetts
These gentlemen were old whigs, and eminent
conservatives.
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