Lincoln's Supreme Court

Rating:
Summary: A pioneer work
Review: This was a pioneer work--the first book-length history of the Supreme Court during the Civil War. More than 45 years after its first publication, it remains the only such history. I am not sure why the subject hasn't received more attention. Thousands of volumes have focused on the executive and legislative branches of the government in that crisis, and the Supreme Court--in theory, if not in actual practice--is one of the three co-equal branches of the government. It was, in fact, deeply involved in the struggle, as it was in events that led up to it. Silver's book is based on extensive research in original sources, and it adequately covers the basic elements of the story. Yet readers may find its analysis of constitutional issues a bit thin, and wish the author had conveyed more of the personal drama that drove events in the Court (the relationship between Lincoln and Taney had an almost Shakespearean quality to it). Finally, it should be noted that the title is somewhat misleading. The Supreme Court has never belonged to any president, Lincoln or otherwise. It was the United States Supreme Court during the war, as it has always been, and it remained independent throughout the conflict. Notwithstanding all of this, the University of Illinois Press is to be commended for making this book available once again in a digital reprint.

Rating:
Summary: A pioneer work
Review: This was a pioneer work--the first book-length history of the Supreme Court during the Civil War. More than 45 years after its first publication, it remains the only such history. I am not sure why the subject hasn't received more attention. Thousands of volumes have focused on the executive and legislative branches of the government in that crisis, and the Supreme Court--in theory, if not in actual practice--is one of the three co-equal branches of the government. It was, in fact, deeply involved in the struggle, as it was in events that led up to it. Silver's book is based on extensive research in original sources, and it adequately covers the basic elements of the story. Yet readers may find its analysis of constitutional issues a bit thin, and wish the author had conveyed more of the personal drama that drove events in the Court (the relationship between Lincoln and Taney had an almost Shakespearean quality to it). Finally, it should be noted that the title is somewhat misleading. The Supreme Court has never belonged to any president, Lincoln or otherwise. It was the United States Supreme Court during the war, as it has always been, and it remained independent throughout the conflict. Notwithstanding all of this, the University of Illinois Press is to be commended for making this book available once again in a digital reprint.