Description
Book SynopsisIn preparing the long-awaited second edition of his well-liked text, Kent Newmyer consulted the best and most relevant of the recent scholarship on the antebellum Court, prompting him to revise important points in the story of the Court's evolution.
Nevertheless, the revised edition of the text retains the basic format and the conceptual premise of the original: the unique contributions of the Marshall and Taney courts taken together laid the foundation for the modern institution. Understanding the Supreme Court during its formative period provides useful insights into its continued (and hotly debated) involvement in shaping American society. Seminal cases that came before the Court, such as Marbury v. Madison and Dred Scott v. Sanford are examined in detail.
Besides touting a thoroughly revised bibliographical essay, the second edition of The Supreme Court under Marshall and Taney includes an entirely new bank of illustrations and an index of important cases, making i
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"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)
Table of Contents
Foreword vii
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Chapter One. The Framework of Judicial Statesmanship 1
Limitations on Judicial Lawmaking 6
The Potential of Judicial Statesmanship 10
The Court and The Men and Women on It 16
Chapter Two. John Marshall and the Consolidation of National Power 18
The Struggle for Judicial Power: Marbury v. Madison 22
Consolidating National Power 39
A Philosophy of National Power 52
Chapter Three. Capitalism and the Marshall Court: Judicial Review in Action 55
The Marshall Court, State Power, and Agrarian Capitalism 59
The Court and the Rise of the American Business Corporation 70
Retreat under Fire 79
Chapter Four. The Taney Court: Democracy Captures the Citadel 89
King Andrew’s Court 92
Corporations and The Court: The New Look 94
The Taney Court and The Commerce Clause 101
Continuity Versus Change: The Haunting Presence of John Marshall 108
The Case for Judicial Statesmanship 113
Chapter Five. The Court’s Time of Troubles: Slavery, Sectionalism, and War 118
The Court and Slavery 122
The Fugitive Slave Question 123
Slavery in the Territories 127
Enter Dred Scott 131
Pitfalls of Judicial Discretion 138
The War Years: The Court Survives 142
Chapter Six. The Legacy of the Supreme Court under Marshall and Taney 146
Bibliographical Essay 153
Glossary of Legal Terms 170
The Supreme Court, 1801-1864 172
Index of Cases 176
Index 179
Illustrations follow page 88
