Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Taney, Roger Brooke

TANEY, ROGER BROOKE, an American statesman; born in Calvert co., Md., March 17, 1777; was graduated at Dickinson College in 1795; admitted to the bar in 1799, and elected to the house of delegates in the autumn of the same year. During the war with Great Britain he led the wing of the Federal party that upheld the policy of the government. In 1816 he was sent to the State senate; in 1827 became attorney-general of Maryland and in December, 1831, succeeded John M. Berrien as attorney-general of the United States. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury under President Jackson on Sept. 24, 1833, but was forced to resign the next year, owing to his action with regard to the removal of the treasury deposits. On Dec. 26, 1835, however, he was nominated Chief-Justice of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate on March 15, 1836. While in this office he rendered decisions on many important cases, notably those of Dred Scott, and Sherman M. Booth, both bearing on the Fugitive Slave Law. He died in Washington, D. C, Oct. 12, 1864.