Don’t blame Justice Taney for slavery or the Civil War

Michael Olesker’s smug column, “Maryland, too, has reminder of racism at State House” (Jan. 20) demonstrates an ignorance of history as well as a cloying self-assurance that comes with the considerable benefit of historical insight.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney may not have been the finest chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but neither was he the worst. To chastise him for what was clearly a difficult decision legally and politically in the Dred Scott case does not add much insight into the temper of the times.

Given that constitutional law in the 1850s was tolerant of the institution of slavery in the states where it was legal, the Fugitive Slave Act most likely would have spelled bad news for Dred Scott, regardless of who ended up writing the decision. It would take more than mere abolitionist sentiment to deliver a knock-out punch to the Fugitive Slave Act.

To trash Taney, or his statue, by putting it “in a graveyard somewhere,” as suggested by House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., misses the point.

Chief Justice Taney was a man of his times, perhaps no better than many but no worse than most. He should be judged on the totality of his career as a lawyer, public servant and chief justice.

His statue should remain on the State House lawn and continue to serve as a memorial to a dedicated son of Maryland.

His statue should also stand as a reminder of Maryland’s conflicted status as a loyal-to-the-Union border state, where the evil institution of slavery was protected by law, and only the outcome of a great Civil War would abolish it forever.

James Denny
Catonsville