Bruce Vail
Captain
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2015
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I was in Annapolis yesterday and took time to visit the statue of Taney at the State House because, while I had read of the controversy around the statue and seen photos, I had never actually viewed it in person.
I must say that it is a visually impressive piece of work and beautifully sited on the state capitol grounds.
I see nothing to admire in Taney but my visit to the site reinforced my feeling that the Taney statue is an appropriate memorial and ought not to be removed. Taney is an apt symbol of Civil War-era Maryland in the sense that he was a supporter of slavery, as many Marylanders were, but also a unionist, as many Marylanders also were. He didn't like Lincoln much, but he was no Rebel.
As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Taney was for many generations the highest ranking officer of the federal government ever produced by the state of Maryland (that changed when Spiro Agnew was elected Vice President in 1968 but I think most Marylanders prefer not to be reminded of Agnew) and is memorialized for that more than for any specific legal decision he wrote, including Dred Scott. Viewing the site in person, there wasn't sense at all that it is meant to honor the Dred Scott decision, or slavery in general.
So, I come away from the visit with a feeling that it is an appropriate memorial in its place and ought to be preserved. I don't much like the 'split-the-baby' compromise that was made some 20 years ago to construct a memorial to Thurgood Marshall on the opposite side of the State House, but that may have been the best thing in the end.
I was in Annapolis yesterday and took time to visit the statue of Taney at the State House because, while I had read of the controversy around the statue and seen photos, I had never actually viewed it in person.
I must say that it is a visually impressive piece of work and beautifully sited on the state capitol grounds.
I see nothing to admire in Taney but my visit to the site reinforced my feeling that the Taney statue is an appropriate memorial and ought not to be removed. Taney is an apt symbol of Civil War-era Maryland in the sense that he was a supporter of slavery, as many Marylanders were, but also a unionist, as many Marylanders also were. He didn't like Lincoln much, but he was no Rebel.
As Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Taney was for many generations the highest ranking officer of the federal government ever produced by the state of Maryland (that changed when Spiro Agnew was elected Vice President in 1968 but I think most Marylanders prefer not to be reminded of Agnew) and is memorialized for that more than for any specific legal decision he wrote, including Dred Scott. Viewing the site in person, there wasn't sense at all that it is meant to honor the Dred Scott decision, or slavery in general.
So, I come away from the visit with a feeling that it is an appropriate memorial in its place and ought to be preserved. I don't much like the 'split-the-baby' compromise that was made some 20 years ago to construct a memorial to Thurgood Marshall on the opposite side of the State House, but that may have been the best thing in the end.
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