Book Review: Roger B. Taney: Jacksonian Jurist

Abstract

Rehabilitation of Taney's reputation would seem to be complete when more than a century and a half after his birth two substantial books devoted to his life and works can appear simultaneously and achieve popular appeal. The two books are complementary. Swisher's is a full-length biography, giving adequate, even preferred, space to Taney's political career, particularly his dramatic struggle, as Secretary of the Treasury and adviser to Jackson, with the second Bank of the United States. The present monograph treats biographical details only summarily, and is restricted almost entirely to consideration of Taney's basic philosophical ideas.