Supreme Court under Marshall and Taney

R. Kent Newmyer is Distinguished Alumni Professor, Emeritus, at the University of Connecticut, and Professor of Law and History at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he teaches courses in American constitutional and legal history. His teaching and research specialty is the legal and political history of the early republic. His judicial biography, Joseph Story: Statesman of the Old Republic (1985), received the Littleton-Griswold Award from the American Historical Association for the best book on law and society for 1985; a Certificate of Merit from the American Bar Association; and the Benchmark Book Award for 1985-86 in recognition of its contribution to legal history and the role of the judiciary. His most recent work, John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court (2001), received the Jules and Frances Landry Award from LSU Press and was the winner of the Fifth Annual Library of Virginia Award for the best nonfiction book for 2002.

"Like the first edition, this book will prove invaluable to scholars, teachers, and students. ...Because Newmyer skillfully treats a large body of material in such a clear and compelling fashion, this book remains one of the best studies of the nineteenth-century Supreme Court." (The American Journal of Legal History, Winter 2005)

• Foreword viiPreface and Acknowledgments xiChapter One. The Framework of Judicial Statesmanship 1Limitations on Judicial Lawmaking 6The Potential of Judicial Statesmanship 10The Court and The Men and Women on It 16Chapter Two. John Marshall and the Consolidation of National Power 18The Struggle for Judicial Power: Marbury v. Madison 22Consolidating National Power 39A Philosophy of National Power 52Chapter Three. Capitalism and the Marshall Court: Judicial Review in Action 55The Marshall Court, State Power, and Agrarian Capitalism 59The Court and the Rise of the American Business Corporation 70Retreat under Fire 79Chapter Four. The Taney Court: Democracy Captures the Citadel 89King Andrew’s Court 92Corporations and The Court: The New Look 94The Taney Court and The Commerce Clause 101Continuity Versus Change: The Haunting Presence of John Marshall 108The Case for Judicial Statesmanship 113Chapter Five. The Court’s Time of Troubles: Slavery, Sectionalism, and War 118The Court and Slavery 122The Fugitive Slave Question 123Slavery in the Territories 127Enter Dred Scott 131Pitfalls of Judicial Discretion 138The War Years: The Court Survives 142Chapter Six. The Legacy of the Supreme Court under Marshall and Taney 146Bibliographical Essay 153Glossary of Legal Terms 170The Supreme Court, 1801-1864 172Index of Cases 176Index 179Illustrations follow page 88