in the Court, were now decided contrary to Marshall's known views and in
favor of a strict construction of national powers. Justice Story,
Marshall's longtime associate on the bench, dissented strongly in both
cases, lamenting the loss of Marshall's leadership and the change in the
viewpoint of the Court.

[Footnote 1: _Mayor of New York v. Miln_, 11 Peters, 102; _Briscoe v.
Bank of Kentucky_, 11 Peters, 257, decided in 1837.]

It would serve no useful purpose to enter upon a detailed consideration
of the various decisions upon constitutional questions made during the
twenty-eight years of Taney's Chief Justiceship. They were marked by
great diversity of views among the members of the Court. In some of
them, notably the famous Passenger cases,[1] the Court fell into a state
reminiscent of the confusion of tongues that arose at the building of
the Tower of Babel. The scope of certain of Marshall's decisions was
limited.[2] Upon the whole, however, the structure of constitutional law
which Marshall had reared was not torn down or greatly impaired. The
national supremacy was upheld. Taney and his associates were for the
most part patriotic men and eminent lawyers, proud of the Court and its
history and anxious to add to its prestige. It is regrettable that the
merits of some of them have been so obscured and their memory so clouded
by a well-meaning but unfortunate excursion into the field of political
passions. In the Dred Scott case[3] they thought to quiet agitation and
contribute to the peace of their country by passing judgment upon
certain angrily mooted questions of a political character. The effort
was a failure and brought upon their heads, and upon Chief Justice Taney
in particular, an avalanche of misrepresentation and obloquy.

[Footnote 1: 7 Howard, 283 (1849).]