This afternoon, I return to DC from London where I spoke to the conference of the Liberty League on Sunday. It was a remarkable group of student and other attendees. It feels odd to be here on the day that Margaret Thatcher died. Last night I attended a performance of The Audience with the marvelous Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth. The play depicts the weekly audiences she holds with the Prime Minister, twelve in all so far. It was a wonderful performance, if very mildly left of center as may be the Queen herself for all I know. Madame Thatcher was not portrayed entirely sympathetically, though neither were any of the PM’s, with the possible exception of the Queen’s favorite, Edward Heath Harold Wilson. For some reason, Peter Morgan, the author — who opened last night’s performance with a short respectful notice of Thatcher’s passing — chose not to represent Tony Blair at all among the PMs who were portrayed, though several caustic remarks about him were offered during the play.
Today, I remember another much-maligned but now nearly forgotten politician, Salmon P. Chase, as my paper on Chase just appeared in the Case Western Law Review. You can read it here. Here is the abstract and table of contents:
The name Salmon P. Chase is barely known and his career is largely forgotten. In this Article, I seek to revive his memory by tracing the arc of his career from antislavery lawyer, to antislavery politician, to Chief Justice of the United States. In addition to explaining why his is a career worth both remembering and honoring, I offer some possible reasons why his remarkable achievements have generally unremembered today.
Contents
Introduction: Constitutional Abolitionism………………………..654
I. Chase’s Rise to the Chief Justiceship ………………………………..656
A. Chase’s Early Years……………………………………………………………… 656
B. Chase as an Antislavery Lawyer ………………………………………..659
C. Chase as an Antislavery Political Leader…………………………668
II. The Chief Justiceship of Salmon P. Chase ……………………..676
A. Chase’s Duties as Chief Justice…………………………………………..676
B. Chase’s Opinions on Reconstruction…………………………………677
1. In re Turner………………………………………………………………………………..677
2. Texas v. White ……………………………………………………………………………679
C. Chase on the Enumerated Powers of Congress…………………683
1. United States v. Dewitt……………………………………………………………….683
2. The Legal Tender Cases………………………………………………………………687
D. Chase on the Privileges and Immunities of Citizens
of the United States……………………………………………………………………694
III. Why Has Chase’s Career Been Forgotten? ……………………..697
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………..701