Roger B. Taney

Roger Brooke Tan ey (March 17, 1777 – October 12, 1864) was an American lawyer and public servant who held several high‑level federal positions during the first half of the nineteenth century. He served as United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1833 to 1834 under President Andrew Jackson, later becoming the fifth Chief Justice of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the Supreme Court) where he presided over a period marked by intense debate over states’ rights and slavery.

Early life and career

Roger Tan ey was born on March 17, 1777, in Calvert County, Maryland. His family were prominent Catholic landowners who operated a tobacco plantation that relied on enslaved labor. The elder Tan eys had immigrated from England to Maryland in the mid‑seventeenth century, and by the time of Roger’s birth his father, Michael Tan ey V., had established a well‑known household. To prepare for a professional career, Roger was sent at age fifteen to Dickinson College, where he studied a broad curriculum that included ethics, logic, languages, and mathematics. After graduating in 1796, he read law under Judge Jeremiah Townley Chase in Annapolis and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1799.

Tan ey’s early legal practice began in Frederick, Maryland, where he built a reputation as an effective litigator. In 1816, after serving one term in the Maryland House of Delegates as a member of the Federalist Party, he was elected to the Maryland State Senate for a five‑year term. By 1823 he had relocated his practice to Baltimore, further enhancing his standing within the state’s legal community. During this period, Tan ey represented prominent clients before the United States Supreme Court, including merchant Solomon Etting in a case that reached the highest court in 1826.

In 1827, Tan ey was appointed Attorney General of Maryland, a position he held until 1831. His support for Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaigns in 1824 and 1828 brought him into close contact with the future president. After a cabinet reshuffle in 1831, President Jackson named Tan ey as his new Attorney General, placing him among the most influential members of the administration.

Tan ey was married to Anne Phoebe Charlton Key, sister of Francis Scott Key. Together they had six daughters; while Tan ey remained Catholic, his children were raised in their mother’s Episcopal faith. The family maintained a permanent residence in Baltimore, though Tan ey rented an apartment during his federal service and later moved permanently to Washington, D.C., after Anne’s death in 1855.

Cabinet tenure

In 1833 President Andrew Jackson appointed Roger Tan ey as United States Secretary of the Treasury. He served in this capacity until 1834. The appointment came at a time when the Treasury Department was deeply involved in the “Bank War,” a conflict over the rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States and the broader debate about federal fiscal policy. As Secretary, Tan ey worked closely with Jackson to implement policies that reflected the president’s vision for a limited central bank and a more decentralized financial system.

Tan ey’s tenure as Treasury Secretary was brief but placed him at the center of significant economic debates. He participated in discussions concerning the management of public debt, the regulation of state banks, and the issuance of paper currency. His legal background and experience within Jackson’s administration informed his approach to these issues, though specific policy outcomes from his time in office are not detailed in the available records.

Legacy

After leaving the Treasury Department, Tan ey was appointed Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1835, a position he held until his death in 1864. During his tenure on the bench, he delivered the majority opinion in the landmark case *Dred Scott v. Sandford* (1857), which declared that African Americans could not be considered U.S. citizens and that Congress lacked authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. The decision intensified sectional tensions and is widely regarded as one of the most controversial rulings in American judicial history.

Tan ey’s influence extended beyond this single case. He presided over a period in which the Supreme Court shifted toward a jurisprudence that emphasized states’ rights, although it did not entirely reject federal authority. His tenure also coincided with significant legal debates surrounding the Civil War, during which he expressed opposition to President Abraham Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus and other wartime measures.

Despite his controversial legacy on the bench, Tan ey’s earlier service as Secretary of the Treasury contributed to shaping the fiscal policies of Jacksonian America. His involvement in the Bank War and his efforts to reform federal financial institutions reflected a broader commitment to limiting centralized economic power—a theme that resonated throughout his public career.

Roger Tan ey died on October 12, 1864, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 87. He was succeeded on the Supreme Court by Salmon P. Chase. His death marked the end of an era in which a single individual held significant influence over both the executive and judicial branches of the United States government during a period of profound national transformation.