細節
TANEY, Roger B. The Opinion of Hon. Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Habeas Corpus Case of John Merryman. Baltimore: Lucas Brothers, 1861.
8°, 24pp., self wrappers.
FIRST EDITION. Taney’s landmark ruling and defiant challenge to President Lincoln. On 27 April 1861, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus along the rail lines carrying troops from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. Pro-secession sentiment ran high in the crucial border state of Maryland, and John Merryman (1824-1881)--a loud secessionist--led a force in training of some 500 men. On 25 May, at 2:30 a.m., Union troops broke into his home, arrested him and threw him into Fort McHenry. His lawyers petitioned directly to Chief Justice Taney, correctly surmising they would get a sympathetic hearing from the author of the Dred Scott decision. Taney traveled to Baltimore to hear the petition, which he granted on 29 May. But Gen. George Cadwalader at Fort McHenry refused to accept the writ, and also refused to appear when Taney cited him for contempt. Lincoln was just as contemptuous of Taney’s opinion that only Congress could suspend the writ. Merryman stayed in jail.
RARE. Only one other copy has appeared at auction in the past 40 years (Skinner, 2011, an inscribed copy).
8°, 24pp., self wrappers.
FIRST EDITION. Taney’s landmark ruling and defiant challenge to President Lincoln. On 27 April 1861, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus along the rail lines carrying troops from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. Pro-secession sentiment ran high in the crucial border state of Maryland, and John Merryman (1824-1881)--a loud secessionist--led a force in training of some 500 men. On 25 May, at 2:30 a.m., Union troops broke into his home, arrested him and threw him into Fort McHenry. His lawyers petitioned directly to Chief Justice Taney, correctly surmising they would get a sympathetic hearing from the author of the Dred Scott decision. Taney traveled to Baltimore to hear the petition, which he granted on 29 May. But Gen. George Cadwalader at Fort McHenry refused to accept the writ, and also refused to appear when Taney cited him for contempt. Lincoln was just as contemptuous of Taney’s opinion that only Congress could suspend the writ. Merryman stayed in jail.
RARE. Only one other copy has appeared at auction in the past 40 years (Skinner, 2011, an inscribed copy).