Bullies Causing Conflict
A Shallow Success for Slaveholders
"The three hundred and forty-seven thousand five hundred and twenty-five Slaveholders in the Republic, accomplished day before yesterday a great success – as shallow men estimate success. They converted the Supreme Court of Law and Equity of the United States of America into a propagandist of human Slavery.”
- The Evening Journal in Albany, New York,
Published March 9, 1857, three days after Dred Scott Decision
This is a reaction to the Dred Scott Decision from the Albany evening journal. This journal was affiliated with the Republican Party and a major New York State proponent of the abolition of of slavery. In 1857, it published a series of news articles and editorials responding to the Supreme Court decision of the Dred Scott case. In this edition of the journal, it is explained that the Supreme Court, the court regarded for justice, was somewhat pushed to side with the many slaveholders who wanted to keep slavery in the states. The slaveholders found success in the case by the end, but it is described as a "shallow success" or a weak compromise because it was not really earned, it was almost forced upon the judge.
"The three hundred and forty-seven thousand five hundred and twenty-five Slaveholders in the Republic, accomplished day before yesterday a great success – as shallow men estimate success. They converted the Supreme Court of Law and Equity of the United States of America into a propagandist of human Slavery.”
- The Evening Journal in Albany, New York,
Published March 9, 1857, three days after Dred Scott Decision
This is a reaction to the Dred Scott Decision from the Albany evening journal. This journal was affiliated with the Republican Party and a major New York State proponent of the abolition of of slavery. In 1857, it published a series of news articles and editorials responding to the Supreme Court decision of the Dred Scott case. In this edition of the journal, it is explained that the Supreme Court, the court regarded for justice, was somewhat pushed to side with the many slaveholders who wanted to keep slavery in the states. The slaveholders found success in the case by the end, but it is described as a "shallow success" or a weak compromise because it was not really earned, it was almost forced upon the judge.
Delivery of the Judge
“The decision of the slaveholding majority of the United States Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, an abstract of which we copied yesterday from The National Intelligencer, is stated to have been delivered in "a tone of voice almost inaudible.".... However feeble his voice might have been, what he had to say was still feebler. There is not the slightest degree of adroitness, ingenuity or plausibility about it. Downright and bare-faced falsehood is its main staple. Any slave-driving editor or Virginia bar-room politician could have taken the Chief-Justice's place on the bench, and with the exception of a little bolder speaking up, nobody would have perceived the difference.”
- the New York Daily Tribune
Published March 10, 1857
This editorial was published in the New York Daily Tribune only four days after the verdict of the Dred Scott Decision. It states that when Chief Justice Roger Taney announced the verdict it was in a quiet, near inaudible, tone. When the Chief Justice was unable to speak this verdict confidently, more conflict arose. The New York Daily Tribune was anti- slavery, and seeing that the Court did not have confidence in their decision made the verdict harder to swallow. In the opinion of the editorial, the way in which the verdict was delivered showed no ingenuity, again decreasing confidence. The spoken tone of the decision was just as infuriating as the conflicting decision itself.
“The decision of the slaveholding majority of the United States Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, an abstract of which we copied yesterday from The National Intelligencer, is stated to have been delivered in "a tone of voice almost inaudible.".... However feeble his voice might have been, what he had to say was still feebler. There is not the slightest degree of adroitness, ingenuity or plausibility about it. Downright and bare-faced falsehood is its main staple. Any slave-driving editor or Virginia bar-room politician could have taken the Chief-Justice's place on the bench, and with the exception of a little bolder speaking up, nobody would have perceived the difference.”
- the New York Daily Tribune
Published March 10, 1857
This editorial was published in the New York Daily Tribune only four days after the verdict of the Dred Scott Decision. It states that when Chief Justice Roger Taney announced the verdict it was in a quiet, near inaudible, tone. When the Chief Justice was unable to speak this verdict confidently, more conflict arose. The New York Daily Tribune was anti- slavery, and seeing that the Court did not have confidence in their decision made the verdict harder to swallow. In the opinion of the editorial, the way in which the verdict was delivered showed no ingenuity, again decreasing confidence. The spoken tone of the decision was just as infuriating as the conflicting decision itself.
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