ROGER B. TANEY SIGNED LEGAL OPINION- 4 PAGES-1823 ESTATE OF MD GOVERNOR THOMAS SIM LEE & CARE OF SLAVES Start Price USD 2,995.00 Current Price USD 2,995.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, November 18, 2008 End Time Thursday, December 18, 2008 Location Harpers Ferry, WV See more about 'ROGER B. TANEY SIGNED LEGAL OPINION- 4 PAGES-1823' Description THIS IS A BEST OFFER AUCTION.  REASONABLE OFFERS WILL BE GIVEN SERIOUS CONSIDERATION.BELOW IS SHOWN THE LETTER.  BELOW THE WRITTEN DESCRIPTION  IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE LETTER. Offered for auction is a Very Rare legal opinion of four pages in letter form by Roger B. Taney, future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and architect of the infamous Dred Scott decision. Facts which make this a extremely unique document: 1.) It is in four pages of legal opinion by Taney regarding the compensation for executors of an estate; care of slaves( referred to as servants) until sold or distributed; and finally the legal and financial obligation and duty of the executors regarding the carrying out of the will of the deceased.  It further expounds on the personal estate as opposed to real estate obligations.    Most other signed documents by Taney offered for sale on Ebay or elsewhere are simple single page court orders, or bills related to the transfer of  his personal property from one place to another.  2.) This letter addresses the issues attached to the estate of Thomas Sim Lee, a very important personage in the history of Maryland and the fledgling United States. Lee signed the bill on Feb. 2, 1781 in the Maryland State Legislature to make Maryland the 13th and final state to approve the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.  He represented Maryland as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783. Please see short biography of his life below.  3.) It directly references slaves, genteelly referred to as "servants", but clearly slaves as indicated by the words sold or distributed.   This reference is Very Rare in any Taney documents we have seen.   Slavery was to brand Taney's future in the infamous Dred Scott decision, one of the prime factors leading directly to John Brown's raid and the Civil War.  *****************  The letter measures 16 inches by 9 &  5/8  inches and is four pages front and back.  The letter is currently enclosed between two pieces of framed glass.  It is addressed to an unnamed individual but lists two others in the first paragraph, Mr. Wm. Lee (son) and Mr. Horsey, executors of the estate of Thomas Sim Lee,  the second governor of Maryland and representative to the First Constitutional Convention.  Research of the original will of Thomas Sim Lee ( a copy will be provided with the letter) suggests that it is addressed to John Lee, other son of  Thomas Sim Lee and one of the executors of the estate.   Lee died in 1819, but his estate was still in probate as of 1823 as indicated by the reference to litigation regarding this estate.  The letter has condition problems as can be seen.  However, it is the only one of its kind.  It was purchased at a Virginia estate sale.  The handwriting matches all the Taney documents, but more than that, the legal wording, parsing  and overall thinking matches the thought processes of Taney.  ******************************    ROGER B. TANEY Early Life Taney was born of a wealthy slave-owning family of tobacco farmers. He was admitted to the bar in 1799 and as a Federalist served (1799–1800) one term in the Maryland house of delegates. He temporarily broke with the Federalist leadership over the party's opposition to the War of 1812, but he gained control of the Federalists in Maryland and in 1816 was elected to a five-year term in the state senate. Having built up a large practice, he moved (1823) from Frederick to Baltimore. In 1824 he permanently abandoned the Federalists to support Andrew Jackson. President Jackson appointed (1831) Taney to the post of Attorney General to assist in the struggle with the Bank of the United States. Taney wrote much of Jackson's message vetoing (1832) the act that rechartered the bank, and, when Louis McLane and William J. Duane refused to withdraw federal funds from the bank, Taney was appointed (1833) Secretary of the Treasury and effected the withdrawal. Chief Justice The Senate, incensed by Taney's actions as Secretary of the Treasury, refused in 1835 to ratify his nomination as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, but the following year, somewhat changed in membership, the Senate ratified his appointment as Chief Justice. In the Charles River Bridge Case (1837) Taney declared that a state charter of a private business conferred only privileges expressly granted and that any ambiguity must be decided in favor of the state. His opinion outraged conservatives, who were opposed to any modification of the view that charters issued by states are inviolable, a view established by Taney's predecessor, John Marshall, in the Dartmouth College Case (1819). Taney's support of the slavery laws was most clearly expressed in the Dred Scott Case (1857). Here he held that slaves (and even the free descendants of slaves) were not citizens and might not sue in the federal courts, and that Congress could not forbid slavery in the territories of the United States. Opposition to the second holding was furiously expressed by the Republicans, and when Lincoln became President he considered Taney an arch foe.  In the Civil War, Taney in vain ruled against Lincoln's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. There was much antipathy to Taney at his death, but there has been a gradual increase in appreciation of his contributions to constitutional law.   THOMAS SIM LEE  Thomas Sim Lee (October 29, 1745–November 9, 1819) was an American planter and statesman of Frederick County, Maryland. He was born in 1745 in Upper Marlboro, Maryland and played an important part in the birth of his state and the nation. He was Governor of Maryland from 1779 to 1783 and again from 1792 to 1794. Thomas Sim Lee was a close relative of the influential Lee family of Virginia and The Carroll Family of Virginia.  Thomas Sim Lee was one of the participants of the Annapolis Convention in the mid 1770s, which produced a constitution for Maryland and transformed the colony into a state. On July 26, 1775 he was one of the signatories of the Declaration of the Association of the Freemen of Maryland, an influential statement in the Revolutionary War.  As Governor of Maryland, Thomas Sim Lee, signed the bill on Feb. 2, 1781 in the Maryland State Legislature to make Maryland the 13th and final state to approve the ratification of the Articles of Confederation. Maryland refused to ratify the Articles until every state had ceded its western land claims. When these concessions were granted, on this day, as the last piece of business during the afternoon Session, "among engrossed Bills" was "signed and sealed by the Governor, in the Senate Chamber, in the presence of the members of both Houses...an Act to empower the delegates of this state in Congress to subscribe and ratify the articles of confederation" and "perpetual union among the states." The Senate then adjourned "to the first Monday in August next". The signing of the Articles by the Maryland delegates took place in Philadelphia at noon time on March 1, 1781. With these events, the Articles entered into force and the United States came into being as a united, sovereign and national state.  Thomas Sim Lee represented Maryland as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783.  He also was a member of the House of Delegates in 1787. He declined the opportunity to serve in the convention that drafted the Constitution of the United States, but served in the state convention that ratified the Federal Constitution in 1788. He helped organize the state militia, and took an active role in opposing the Whisky Insurrection in western Pennsylvania and Maryland. He died in 1819 in Needwood, Maryland, and is buried at the All Saints' Parish Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland. For further reference, you can see listings of correspondence between Taney and the Lee Family by doing a google search for: Outerbridge Horsey Collection of Lee,Horsey, and Carroll Family Papers,1684-1834(Part 2/2)Maryland Historical Society       Shipping and handling and insurance is FREE in the continental United States.     Outside the U.S.A.: Please wait to have shipping cost determined and emailed to you.  We only accept Paypal for foreign purchases. Foreign buyers must pay for insurance if purchase is over $50. 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