Dred Scott, Taney, Blacks & Guns

In the famous (Infamous?) Dred Scott decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote a decision which, in effect, declared that Blacks (Or, at least, Black slaves) had no rights under the Constitution to be considered as citizens of the USA. It took the bloodiest war this nation has ever fought and some amendments to that document to overturn that decision.

Mr. Taney was not a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) as he was a member of the Catholic Church by conversion.

Although that Chief Justice Of The United States has been described as a “staunch supporter of slavery”, his freeing of his own slaves well before the noted court decision and the Civil War makes that application of doubtful value. His ongoing support, from a limited income with other demands, of those of his ex-slaves too old to work is also a matter of some interest to evaluating him.

It may be that he was more of a supporter of “states rights” than of slavery as such. Considering how the Federal Government has intruded into every area of our lives, his concerns may have been based on a valid basis. (Those “liberals” who may, at first, conclude otherwise should consider the overturning of the Florida Supreme Court's decision as to the first election of George W. Bush as President by the US Supreme Court.)

In the noted court decision, one of Chief Justice Taney's chief concerns about granting Blacks citizenship rights was that they would, thereby, be able to go about the USA armed and without restrictions as could other (ie White) citizens (Who appear to have had that right diminished by legislative and judicial acts of tyranny). Considering the disproportional misuse of firearms by Blacks (Usually in Black-on-Black crimes), it seems his concerns in this area were also on a valid basis.