The Presidents Code – Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
The fifth supreme court Chief Justice was Roger Taney who was appointed by Andrew Jackson. Taney had served as Jackson’s Secretary of Treasury and was one of his closest advisers. He was considered a Jacksonian Democrat who believed in states’ rights but not in contradiction to the Union. He was said to have been a slaveholder but ‘regretted’ the institution.
By the time of Chief Justice John Marshall‘s death, the Supreme Court had transformed from a Court whose views agreed with the Federalists to a Court whose views agreed with the views of Jeffersonian Republicans. From 1830 to 1835, Marshall was the sole Federalist on the Supreme Court. However, his influence was so great that a number of other justices would lean to his interpretation. When Roger Taney took the position of Chief Justice, the Supreme Court had a completely Democratic view of the Constitution. This is significant because Democrats favored the view of states’ rights which led them to rule against Dred Scott in a lawsuit he was making against his owner John Sanford to obtain his freedom. The Court ruled that the Federal government did not have the power to regulate slavery and that people of African descent were not protected by the Constitution and were not U.S. Citizens. This case became one of the major causes of the Civil War.
Taney’s name is speaking of the promise of deliverance through the Messiah who would free mankind from the slavery of sin and death (John 8:34).
Roger comes from the Germanic wors ‘hrod’ meaning fame and ‘ger’ meaning spear. The ‘famous spear.’ The famous spear of course is the one in which Christ was pierced (John 19:34).
Brooke is a variant of Brook which is a surname of someone who lived near a brook.
Taney is Irish meaning a green field or golden brown.
Here in the names Brooke and Taney a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven is seen. The brook aspect of his name is pointing to the river of living waters which points to Paradise (Revelation 22:1). The green field is referring to the green pastures to which the Good Shepherd leads His Sheep (Psalm 23:2; Revelation 7:17). Golden brown also connects to Paradise, as Scripture speaks of streets of gold in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:21).
Roger Taney’s tenure as Chief Justice lasted from Andrew Jackson to Abraham Lincoln. The storyline in the code of this period speaks of the time from the days of Cain to the days of Abraham. This time period would correspond to the period of Adam and the antediluvian patriarchs, through the flood to the days of the Patriarch Abraham. Taney’s name is universal however, as the path back to Paradise is the same in every generation. Repent and believe the Gospel, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 2:38-39; Romans 10:9).
It is interesting to note, that the path to salvation was made more clear when Abraham came on the scene. Until then, man only had the promise of the Seed of the woman given to Adam. When Abraham came along and God made covenant with him, the promise of how the Promised Seed would come became much clearer.
Abraham Lincoln was Taney’s most outspoken critic. His opposition to the decision in the Dred Scott case led him to the Presidency but also brought about secession and the Civil War. Taney would die during Lincoln’s first term in office paving the way for a new era to begin in American history corresponding with a new Biblical era which would begin with the Patriarch Abraham. Lincoln appointed Justices with Republican ideology and began a time period in which the Court would be presided over by predominantly Republican appointed Justices for the next 80 years.