ROGER BROOKE TANEY
Legal document in a $1,000 assault lawsuit, signed by Roger Brooke Taney when he was an attorney in Maryland
Autograph document signed "R. B. Taney pltfs/attorney" and, on docket, "Mr. Ritchie/file this &/[illegible]/R. B Taney". 1 page, 7¾x12½, docketed on verso. Legal document in the case of William Tilgman v. James Hooker. Tilgman claimed that Hooker "with swords, clubs knives and fists, made an assault on him the said William and him did then and there beat, wound and evilly treat [illegible] that his life was greatly despaired of and other enormities to him the said William then and there did". He sought $1,000 in damages against Hooker. Taney signed this document while he was an attorney in Maryland and long before he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taney (1777-1864, born in Calvert County, Maryland) was educated privately before attending Dickinson College, where he graduated first in his class. Taney apprenticed with an Annapolis lawyer for three years and was admitted to the bar in 1799 when he was 22. After two years as a Federalist member of the Maryland House of Delegates, he began his legal career in earnest in Frederick, Maryland. There, he met Anne Phoebe Charlton Key, the sister of Francis Scott Key, whom he married in January of 1806. Taney, who became one of Maryland's leading lawyers, became an avid supporter of Andrew Jackson after the Federalist Party faded away. In 1831, Jackson appointed Taney as both Attorney General (1831-1833) and acting Secretary of War before naming him Secretary of the Treasury on Sept. 23, 1833. Taney served until June 24, 1834, when his appointment was rejected by the United States Senate. In 1836, after a political change in the makeup of the Senate, Jackson appointed Taney as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taney served until his death in 1864. He is chiefly remembered for his decision in the Dred Scott case (1857), which stated that slaves were not citizens and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in territories. Lightly toned, stained and creased. Show-through touches signature. Signature on docket is lightly smeared in places but legible. Tears in right edge. Ink transference. Random ink stains. Irregular right edge. Lightly discolored along top edge and in top corners. Folded thrice. Folds are worn and lightly torn along right and left edges. Lightly discolored along folds. Otherwise in fine condition.