Description:

Roger B. Taney
Washington, DC, May 4, 1859
Roger Taney ALS to Jeremiah Sullivan Black on New Federal Court House Location
ALS
A four-page autograph letter signed by Chief Justice Roger Taney to Attorney General Jeremiah Sullivan Black. 4pp of a bifolium, measuring 4.5" x 7", Washington, D.C., dated May 4, 1859. Signed "R. B. Taney." Taney writes concerning a proposed federal court house for Baltimore. Light toning throughout. Flattened folds with one faint vertical crease and some wear to main vertical folded edge. Mounting residue at the spine. Boldly signed.

In part:

"In the conversation we had last night in relation to a site for the court house in Baltimore, you mentioned the property of Mr. Williams & Mr. Meredith. I had heard in Baltimore that this property was offered, but regarding it as altogether unsuitable, I did not perhaps state to you the objections as fully as I ought to have done; and being a stranger to the city, they would not attract your attention. It would be impossible to transact judicial business there…It is one of the most noisy places in Baltimore. The omnibuses % carriages from the Depot of the Central rail road are continually passing at a rapid rate, and I suppose there is hardly an interval of more than a few minutes during the business hours of the day in which a carriage is not rattling past…"

Roger B. Taney (1777-1864) was admitted to the bar in 1799 at Annapolis and served one year in the Maryland House of Delegates before settling down in Frederick, Maryland, to practice law. He returned to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1816, when he was elected to the state senate. Taney later served as chief justice from 1835 to 1864; he had a brilliant lifetime legal track record and is best known for orchestrating a single judicial decision, Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4.5" x 7"
  • Medium: ALS

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