Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney

Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers

By: James F. Simon

Narrated by: Richard Allen

The clashes between President Abraham Lincoln and Chief Justice Roger B. Taney over slavery, secession, and Lincoln's constitutional war powers went to the heart of Lincoln's presidency.

Lincoln and Taney's bitter disagreements began with Taney's Dred Scott opinion in 1857, when the chief justice declared that the Constitution did not grant the black man any rights that the white man was bound to honor. Lincoln attacked the opinion as a warped judicial interpretation of the Framers' intent and accused Taney of being a member of a pro-slavery national conspiracy.

In his first inaugural address, Lincoln insisted that the South had no legal right to secede. Taney, who administered the oath of office to Lincoln, believed that the South's secession was legal and in the best interests of both sections of the country.

Once the war began, Lincoln broadly interpreted his constitutional powers as commander-in-chief to prosecute the war, suspending habeas corpus, censoring the press, and allowing military courts to try civilians for treason. Taney vociferously disagreed, accusing Lincoln of assuming dictatorial powers in violation of the Constitution. Lincoln ignored Taney's protests and exercised his presidential authority fearlessly, determined that he would preserve the Union.

James F. Simon skillfully brings to life this compelling story of the momentous tug-of-war between the president and the chief justice during the worst crisis in the nation's history.

©2006 James F. Simon (P)2006 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Surprisingly taut and gripping....a dramatic, charged narrative." (Publishers Weekly)

Good history

This is a well written interesting book. Like other good history the more you read the more you want to learn. The only problem is that the reader did not research name pronunciation so it is a little irritating to listen to at times.

Poor Chief Justice Taney

How could a jurist be so wrong about the course of history. Chief Justice Taney's use of his office to attempt to derail the inevitable march of history toward the abolition of slavery is truly remarkable. As a consequence, he will forever be regarded, and properly so, as the worst Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The book provides a scholarly historical insight into the Court's role before and during the Civil War and is well worth reading/listening. One negative is the narrator. One would hope that both the narrator and editior would familiarize themselves with the proper pronunciation of the names of key characters in the narrative. He consistently mispronounced General McClellan's name calling him McCleeeeeland. He also mispronounced General Buell's name referring to him as General Bwell. I recommend this book to all student's of Civil War history.

A nice way to learn about American History

Reading along with the book I found a few cases of words or numbers that were wrong in the audio version example 130,000 said as one hundred thirty. The book teaches about an important part of American history in a great way.

Thought-provoking history

This is an interesting study of Lincoln and the centrality of his abolitionist poitical philosophy, juxtaposed against the Dred Scott decison authored by Chief Justice Taney. The narration was mediocre, but the content is thought-provoking.

Not exactly what I expected

This book is more parallel biographies of Lincoln and Taney. I enjoyed it but I expected more interesting insights into the interactions and conflicts between the two.

Mr. Allen's performance was at once superb and annoying. He doesn't seem to be familiar with the subject matter and constantly mispronounces names. Most annoying was his inconsistent reading of General McClellan, which occasionally he said correctly but mostly varied between Mc-Klee-lan and Mc-Klee-in. It's Mc-Klel-lan.

Bad Mispronunciation

Just one of many:

"undermined" pronounced "underminded"

Aren't audio books edited for correctness? There were many words mispronounced or pronounced different from other sources on related topics.

Annoying mispronuciation

As an American history buff, I am so disgruntled at the number of audio books available here with narrators who take no effort to correctly pronounce names and even words. Does not an editor check for the reading before uploading the book? Does not someone check facts? The author mistakes casualties numbers for battle deaths in several cases.

I have heard about every civil war book on this site and some names are read consistently wrong. To have a narrator call General McClellan as McCleelan is egregious. I will admit that the Chief Justice's name is correctly pronounced throughout the book, thank goodness.

The book had new information for me about the legal opinions and about Taney and offers more than I had previously known about Lincoln and his reactions to the Dred Scott opinion.

May I suggest footnotes be included in the readings; they are missed.

Excellent Look at the Legal Veiwpoints

Roger B. Taney (1777-1864) succeeded John Marshall (1755-1835) as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taney served at Attorney General for Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) before being appointed as Chief Justice. Taney was a southern aristocrat but had freed his slaves. Apparently, he did not believe in slavery.

Lincoln and Taney were in constant disagreement over the interpretation of the Constitution. Simon provides more in-depth discussion of both men’s viewpoints. Both men appear more complex than what I have read about in other books. Simon focuses on the key legal quandaries from the Missouri Compromise to the constitutionally of Lincoln’s naval blockade. Simon spent some time on the conflict concerning the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. I was most interested in the discussion regarding the conflict between the two men about the War Powers Act. At the end of the book, Simon discussed the different presidents from Lincoln (1809-1865) to Bush (1946-) and their use of the War Powers. I found the review of Lincoln’s use of the War Powers by Sandra Day O’Conner (1930-) most interesting. Simon’s discussion about Nixon and his claims over the War Powers was unsettling. It is obvious that Congress needs to take control of the War Powers Act and rescind the presidential resolution that had no end date.

The book is well written. Simon ‘s manner of writing allows a lay person to easily understand complex issues. I learned a great deal about these controversies. I have read biographies of both men, but this book concentrates on the key legal issues. I have read several of Simon’s books. I am impressed enough to want to read all his books.

The book is eleven hours and twenty-six minutes. Richard Allen does an average job narrating the book. Allen is a stage actor. He has five Audie Awards nominations for narration and four Earphone Awards. He was voted Audiophile’s Best Voice in 2008.

a rehash without much new

Any book about Lincoln or the Civil War, taking whatever angle, is bound to have a good deal of rehash of material many of us already know, even if you are not an inveterate Civil War buff. What makes these kinds of books intriguing is the new perspectives authors can bring to the reader, and on occasion new material as well. This volume does bring some new material to light on Taney in particular, little on Lincoln, and none on the Civil War itself. It does not provide a good legal analysis of the Dred Scott decision, nor other Taney legal/career events prior (or during the War, re: habeas corpus), and does not succeed in the author's promise to thoroughly explore the relationship between Lincoln & Taney (or perhaps it does, there wasn't much of a relationship as a matter of fact).

The reader has a nice voice, but did not do his homework with respect to some terms & some names. He mispronounces place names & last names with irritating frequency, which is unfortunate. It detracts from what is otherwise quite a listenable exposition.