This is a list of U.S. Supreme Court Justices who owned slaves at any point in their lives. Slavery was legal in parts of the United States from the American Revolutionary War through the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in December, 1865, shortly after the conclusion of the American Civil War.
| Justice | Chief or Associate | Approximate number of slaves held |
While on federal bench? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Marshall | Chief | >150[1] | Yes | Lifelong slave owner;[1] provided venture capital to slave speculators[2]: 11–12 |
| Roger B. Taney | Chief | Many | Yes | Lifelong slave owner; manumitted "most (but not all)" of his slaves as young man; [3] "deeply committed to slavery".[4] Wrote the Dred Scott decision. |
| Bushrod Washington | Associate | Heir to Mount Vernon and the enslaved people who worked and lived on the property[5] | ||
| John Marshall Harlan | Associate | Unknown | Unknown | "The Great Dissenter," he ultimately became one of the court's staunchest defenders of equal rights[6][7] |
| John Catron | Associate | Unknown | Unknown | Lifelong slave owner; father of an extramarital child by an enslaved woman named Sally[8] |
| James M. Wayne | Associate | Unknown[9] | ||
| John A. Campbell | Associate | Unknown | No; freed his slaves before joining the Court[10] | Quit the court at outbreak of Civil War and was later appointed Confederate Assistant Secretary of War; he "bitterly opposed" Reconstruction and organized multiple lawsuits in opposition[11] |
| Samuel Freeman Miller | Associate | Unknown | No | Freed his slaves before he left Kentucky for Iowa[12] |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Finkelman (2018), p. 4–5.
- ^ Westmoreland, Carl B. (2015). "Article 3: The John W. Anderson Slave Pen". Freedom Center Journal. 2015 (1). University of Cincinnati College of Law. ISSN 1942-5856.
- ^ Finkelman (2018), p. 7.
- ^ Finkelman (2018), p. 184.
- ^ "Bushrod Washington | History of the Supreme Court". Retrieved 2024-05-12.
- ^ Belpedio, James R. "John Marshall Harlan I". Middle Tennessee State University. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ Szalai, Jennifer (2021-06-14). "A Supreme Court Justice Who Moved From Defending Slavery to Championing Civil Rights". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ "John Catron." Oyez, www.oyez.org/justices/john_catron. Accessed 31 May. 2023.
- ^ James M. Wayne." Oyez,www.oyez.org/justices/james_m_wayne. Accessed 11 May. 2023.
- ^ John A. Campbell." Oyez,www.oyez.org/justices/john_a_campbell. Accessed 11 May. 2023.
- ^ "Reconstruction's End". Equal Justice Initiative Reports. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ Samuel F. Miller." Oyez,www.oyez.org/justices/samuel_f_miller. Accessed 11 May. 2023.
Literature
edit- Finkelman, Paul (2018). Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation's Highest Court. The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674051218. LCCN 2017021771.