Page:History of the Supreme court of the United States (IA historyofsupreme00myeriala).pdf/10

6 historical delver; and if nearly all of them are now presented for the first time that is not the fault of the facts but constitutes a standing exposure of the superficial, if not designedly partial character, of much of the extant work passed off as historical writing. Spurious as most of these writings are, destitute of the merit of even a disposition to plumb the truth, characterized by a desire to glorify the basest passions and gloze over the true causes and development of events, they have unfortunately had their influence in propagating confusion, falsehood, and, worst of all, popular sub- mission to the ideas and conceptions demanded by the dominant class. But the day has even now dawned when such works are going to the rubbish heaps or perhaps being regarded as singular curiosities of "intellectual" vassalage.

For nearly a century and a quarter the Supreme Court of the United States has towered aloft in omnipotent sway over all other institutions. Absolute and final, its decrees have gone deep into the history of the nation, and have had their mighty effect upon those wars of classes and subdivisions of classes which it was once {and to some extent still is) the fashion to ignore in theory while asserting the fact in deed. During its whole existence the Supreme Court of the United States has been overwhelmed with laudation, although not at all times free from criticism.

But generalities do not concern us, nor do mere gilded words or fine assumptions have weight. What we do care about is to know the facts, so far as the annals can give them, of this all-powerful institution. We seek to learn its antecedents, its establishment, its development, its successive personnel, and its course, and what relation the whole bore to the great questions and interests of each associated era, This is the information supplied in the following pages; and if the facts presented are striking, original and voluminous, it should be remembered that they are only such as are in the records; without doubt many more underlying facts have