The Supreme Court of the United States During the War of Secession and the Reconstruction

Abstract

The period of the War of Secession and the so-called Reconstruction was a time of a great trial for the Superior Court of the United States. The negative consequences of the verdict in D. Scott’s case shook the authority of the tribunal. Even when in the Court Republicans outnumbered Democrats and they tried not to come into further conflicts with the leadership of their party with their verdicts, restoring the prestige of the Court was difficult. It should be stressed, however, that generally avoiding serious clashes, especially with the party colleagues, the Court emphasized its position as the ultimate verifier of conformity of legislative solutions with the constitutional provisions. Although it was forced to defend its position, without any means to enforce its will or opinion, it kept the authority of the last resort in this field. Hence, even if it usually confirmed the solutions advocated by the Republicans, it still influenced their radicalism, preventing extreme conceptions even at the stage of their elaboration by the Congress. This was due to the fact that the Republicans also understood that in a longer perspective keeping up a conflict with the Court (in which they outnumbered the Democrats anyway) and weakening its position does not serve well either their particular party affairs or, the more so, the authority and stability of the whole federal government. All this resulted in the Supreme Court taking the way of a slow reconstruction of its former position.