Who was roger b. Taney?

Answer 1

He was the elderly Chief Justice, who gave the Supreme Court ruling that denied freedom to the slave Dred Scott in 1857.

His judgment that slavery was legal in every state of the Union, according to the Constitution, inflamed Northern Abolitionists, and deepened the division between the two sections.

Ironically, Taney had been an Abolitionist himself as a young man.

Answer 2

Roger B. Taney was Chief Justice of the United States (Supreme Court) from March 1836 until his death in October 1864. Taney, appointed by President Andrew Jackson, is perhaps best known for presiding over the Dred Scott case (Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 US 393 (1857)) that declared slaves were property and could never be US citizens.

The decision in this case angered Northern abolitionists, and is considered one of the catalysts to the Civil War.

Answer 3

Taney was the Chief Justice who declared that slavery was legal in every state of the Union - greatly deepening the divide between the two sections.

He said he was interpreting the Constitution in the way that the Founding Fathers would have meant. So when they decreed that a man's property was sacred, they would have included slaves within their definition of property.

Ironically, Taney had been an Abolitionist as a young man. But he was very old by the time of this court-case.

Answer 4

Roger B. Taney was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.