Tumultuous and momentous events occurred in the United States between 1865 and 1873. Dominating the political arena was the end of the nation\u27s bloody civil war and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, followed by the struggle over Reconstruction and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In the middle of this ferment stirred the impressive figure of Salmon P. Chase, who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1864 to 1873.
Correspondence of William James Wins Morton N. Cohen Award
Elizabeth Nuxoll and Mary Gallagher Receive 1999 Butterfield Awar

Flannery, Jeffrey M.

English

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University of Nebraska - LincolnDigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - LincolnDocumentary Editing: Journal of the Associationfor Documentary Editing (1979-2011) Documentary Editing, Association for3-2000Sa1mon P. Chase and Reconstruction: Review ofThe Salmon P. Chase Papers, Volume 5:Correspondence, 1865-1873. Edited by JohnNiven, James P. McClure, Leigh Johnson, HollyByers Ochoa, and Kathleen Norman.Jeffrey M. FlanneryLibrary of Congress, jfla@loc.govFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/doceditPart of the Digital Humanities Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Reading andLanguage Commons, and the Technical and Professional Writing CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Documentary Editing, Association for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska -Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979-2011) by anauthorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.Flannery, Jeffrey M., "Sa1mon P. Chase and Reconstruction: Review of The Salmon P. Chase Papers, Volume 5: Correspondence,1865-1873. Edited by John Niven, James P. McClure, Leigh Johnson, Holly Byers Ochoa, and Kathleen Norman." (2000).Documentary Editing: Journal of the Association for Documentary Editing (1979-2011). 468.http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/docedit/468A REVIEW Sa1monP. Chase and Reconstruction JEFFREY M. FLANNERY The Salmon P. Chase Papers, Volume 5: Correspondence, 1865-1873. Edited by John Niven, James P. McClure, Leigh Johnson, Holly Byers Ochoa, and Kathleen Norman. Kent, Ohio: Kent State Uni-versity Press, 1998. xxvi + 401pp. S45.00, ISBN 0-87338-618-3. TIultuous and momentous events occurred in the United States between 1865 and 1873. Dominating the political arena was the end of the nation's bloody civil war and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, followed by the struggle over Recon-struction and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In the middle of this ferment stirred the impres-sive ftgure of Salmon P. Chase, who served as chief jus-tice of the Supreme Court from 1864 to 1873. Born in 1808, in New Hampshire, Chase was nine years old when sent out West (Ohio) to live with relatives after his father died. Although fatherless, his family was not without con-nections, and his uncles included a U.S. senator, Dudley Chase, and a prominent bishop in the Episcopal Church, Philander Chase, from whom the youngster received his initial education and training. Physically large, and described as handsome, Chase was also imbued with a ftne intellect and strong work ethic. After graduation from Dartmouth, and a brief flirtation with teaching in Washington, nc., Chase returned to Cincinnati, where he started practicing law. He gained some recognition as a legal scholar by publishing a three-volume edition of the Statutes rif Ohio, and in 1834 married Catherine Jane Garniss. She died less than two years later, and in 1839 he married Eliza Ann Smith, who died in 1845. In 1846, Chase married Sarah Bella Dunlop Ludlow, who died in 1852. Only two of the six children from these marriages reached adulthood. Clearly, Chase suffered terrible blows in his personal life, and never married after the death of his third wife. In contrast to these personal misfortunes, Chase's public life prospered. Early in his legal career he repre-sented slaves in freedom cases, which in turn drew him into the abolition movement. Subsequently, a political life JEFFREY FLANNERY has served as a reference librarian in the Manu-script Division of the Library of Congress for the past thirteen years. He received his undergraduate degree from Temple University in 1978, an M.A. in history from Duquesne University in 1983, and an M.L.S. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990. beckoned, and Chase became increasingly active in the issues of his day. In Ohio, he fttst aligned himself with the Liberty Party, followed in turn by the Free Soilers, the Democrats, and, from the late 1850s, the Republicans. Although he was never beholden to one party, this politi-cal flitting about did not seem to inhibit his rise, and Chase's career generally followed an upward progression from local to state to national levels. By 1860, he had served as senator and governor from Ohio, and was ac-tive in seeking the presidential nomination from the Re-publican Party. Although he lost that bid to Abraham Lincoln, his prominence was such that he was appointed secretary of the Treasury. In this capacity, he served ably, helping to secure ftnancing for the Union cause, though he clashed with Lincoln on matters of policy and per-sonality. He threatened to resign on more than one occa-sion, and a Chase-weary Lincoln fl1lally accepted the latest resignation threat in July 1864, much to the secretary's surprise. In October, however, Lincoln nominated him as chief justice of the Supreme Court to replace the de-ceased Roger B. Taney, and he assumed his duties before the year was out .1 Volume 5 is the concluding issue of the Chase Pa-pers series. The volume begins on 2 January 1865, with a polite but somewhat chastising letter written by Chase to General William T. Sherman, and ftnishes with a brief note written on 5 May 1873, by a man obviously afflicted with the accumulated slights of old age, and who knows he is near his end (he died 7 May). In between are 213 letters and other documents selected from a considerably larger body of papers left by Chase. Though volume 5 covers a broader chronological span than the two preceding volumes, which included the Civil War years, this arrange-ment "reflects the actual quantities of correspondence surviving from the major phases of his career."2 The majority of the entries are writings by Chase, but this last volume does include a fair number of letters addressed to him. The emphasis of the correspondence weighs heavily on the political events of the day. By January 1865, the Confederacy was staggering toward defeat, and Chase was turning his attention toward Reconstruction. His position notwithstanding, the new chief justice was not going to shy away from offering his written opinion to March 2000 / DOCUMENTARY EDmNG 11 political followers, military commanders, congressional officials, and presidents, which was pretty much the way he had acted in his previous offices. In the 2 January letter to Sherman, Chase spoke up for the rights of African Americans, who he feared were suffering "harshness" during Sherman's march to the sea. He privately distrib-uted the text of his letter to President lincoln advising him on Reconstruction policy. Shortly after lincoln's as-sassination, he toured several Southern states, and sent his observations to President Johnson.3 Students of the Re-construction period can debate the correctness or effec-tiveness of Chase's efforts, but his transition to the third branch of government certainly did not silence his voice. As might be expected, Chase's work on the Supreme Court engaged much of his time, and the editors are care-ful not to exclude correspondence relating to the most important cases. Interwoven among political missives are several exchanges discussing ex Parte McCardle, Texas v. White, Hepburn v. Griswold, and others, where the chief justice and his correspondents discuss the merits and re-sults of the Court's opinions. Of course, most of the important litigation before the Court involved Recon-struction issues, such as the authority of military courts, the integration of the former Confederate states into the Union, and loyalty oaths. These discussions complement other correspondence found in the book But perhaps Chase's most visible duty as chief justice was displayed during President Johnson's Senate impeach-ment trial in the spring of 1868. Chase thought impeach-ment "unwise," even though he disagreed with the president's policies, but he wrote that "I have endeavored to be & I believe I have been perfectly unbiased," and carried out his responsibilities very seriously in his role as presiding judge.4 It is probably safe to assume that when the editors were compiling this volume they did not an-ticipate that the second presidential impeachment trial in the nation's history would begin so soon after publica-tion. If they could have foretold the future they might have included more items relating to the trial. Or maybe not, because the impeachment issue is soon supplanted by attention to the upcoming presidential elec-tion. Like other nominees, Justice Chase was positioning himself (or allowing himself to be positioned) as a presi-dential candidate for the Democratic Party in 1868. If the record casts a good and proper light on Chase's conduct during the impeachment trial, it also shines a bit brightly and unseemly on his attempts to secure the presidency. Chase's ambition, noted by his contemporaries and bi-ographers, propelled him to seek the presidency, even at the risk of abandoning his party of the moment, the 12 DOCUMENTARY EDITING / March 2000 Republicans. But even in allowing for the nineteenth century's usual custom of candidates' demurral when seeking higher office, the editors show through their se-lections that Chase's protestations did not ring so convinc-ingly in the summer of 1868. He permitted his daughter, Kate Chase Sprague, to act as his campaign manager during the complicated maneuvering which accompanied the Democratic convention in New York, but the prize was not to be bestowed. One of the nation's most in-volved politicians was going to remain on the Court, but his activity was seriously curtailed when he suffered a de-bilitating stroke in August 1870. Chase recovered to some degree, but his physical decline is reflected in the volume, and it is instructive to note that the ftrst 339 pages cover the years 1865 through 1870, while only 30 pages treat the remaining two and a half years of his life. Editorially, volume 5 follows in the capable footsteps of its predecessors. The textual procedures are delineated clearly and followed consistently. Annotations are relevant and concise, and it is rare when an individual is not iden-tified, no matter how obscure. A useful feature at the head of each entry lists the reel and frame number on the mi-croftlm edition of the Chase Papers, thereby directing readers to that fuller trove of documents. Some readers may wish for more documentation of Chase's family, social, or legal careers (Chase's daughter, Kate, may be worth a volume of letters unto herself), but the truth is that Chase's life was consumed and driven by politics, specifically by his quest for the presidency. Students seek-ing insights into the other sides of Chase's life will have to refer to the microftlm edition. Since the inception of the Salmon P. Chase Papers, the project has been shepherded by an able team of edi-tors, headed by the late John Niven, who died while the last volume was in press. Although disheartened by this loss, students and scholars can take solace in the fact that Professor Niven's work ably preserved and disseminated the legacy of Chase, a pivotal figure during the nineteenth century struggles to shape and defme America. Notes 1. Chase's life has received full treatments in John Niven, Salmon P. Chase: A Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995); Albert Bushnel Hart, Salmon Portland Chase (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1899); and Frederick Blue, Salmon P. Chase: A Lift in Politics (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1987). Concise biographical information can be found in the American National Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Scribner's, 1930), and Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions (New York: Chelsea House, 1969). 2. Salmon P. Chase Papers, p. xxiii. 3. Ibid.,Salmon P.Chase (SPC) to William T. Sherman, p. 3; SPC to Abraham Lincoln, pp.15-16; SPC to Andrew Johnson, p.47-51. 4. Ibid., SPC to Milton Sutliff, p. 226, SPC to Clark Williams, p. 215. Correspondence ofWUJiam JamesWmsMortonN. CohenAward The fifth Morton N. Cohen Award for a Distin-guished Edition of Letters has been given to The Cor-respondence of William James, edited by Ignas K. Skrupskelis and Elizabeth M. Berkeley and published by the University Press of Virginia. The award is spon-sored by the Modern Language Association of America. The citation for the edition reads: "This volume fulfills all the criteria for the award, including the stipu-lation that the edition 'should be in itself a work of literature.' The editorial apparatus is outstanding and includes a number of features that any scholar will greet with delight. The family tree, the list of letters, the chronology of extant letters, the Biographical Register, and the Bibliographical Note give clear and useful information about the corpus of letters. A sort of minibiography, the introduction offers an over-view of the letters to follow. The notes cover what any biographer or scholar would want to know about William James and his correspondents. This beauti-fully laid out edition enables readers to watch a fer-tile, brilliant, and affectionate mind at work and play." Ignas K. Skrupskelis is professor emeritus of phi-losophy at the University of South Carolina and has headed the editing team since 1988. Elizabeth M Ber-keley has served as associate editor since the first vol-ume of The Correspondence of William James was published in 1988. The Morton N. Cohen Award is presented bien-nially, in odd-numbered years. The winner of the first award, presented in 1991, was The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, edited by Frederick Burkhardt and Sydney Smith and published by Cambridge Univer-sityPress. EUzabethNuxoll and Mary Gallagher Receive 1999 ButterfieldAward Elizabeth Nuxoll and Mary Gallagher, editors of The Papers of Robert Morris, were named recipients of the 1999 Butterfield Award. The award committee described them as "loyal and active members of the ADE," who "are being given the award because of their good work as edi-tors, keeping the edition going through extremely dif-ficult times of funding and moving it to completion, and because of their many other services to the edi-torial community. "Both of them are tireless in their efforts to keep up with a wide range of list serves that are of inter-est to editors, passing on pertinent information through SEDIT-L. They give papers at scholarly conferences and to public gatherings that make use of documentary editions and illustrate the importance of primary research." The committee also cited their service to the ADE: Mary Gallagher has chaired the Butterfield Award, Nominating, and Membership committees and has served on the Program, Education, and Publications committees. Betty Nuxoll has coordi-nated the annual Women's Interest Breakfast. "They are excellent editors and exemplary colleagues." This year's awards committee was Joel Myerson (chair), Cullom Davis, Helen Deese, Dorothy Twohig, and Conrad E . Wright. Elizabeth Nuxoll, Ann Gordon, Mary Gallagher, and Joel Myerson. Photo by Tom Mason. March 2000 / DOCUMENTARY EDITING 13 

Sa1mon P. Chase and Reconstruction: Review of \u3ci\u3eThe Salmon P. Chase Papers\u3c/i\u3e, Volume 5: Correspondence, 1865-1873. Edited by John Niven, James P. McClure, Leigh Johnson, Holly Byers Ochoa, and Kathleen Norman.

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Sa1mon P. Chase and Reconstruction: Review of \u3ci\u3eThe Salmon P. Chase Papers\u3c/i\u3e, Volume 5: Correspondence, 1865-1873. Edited by John Niven, James P. McClure, Leigh Johnson, Holly Byers Ochoa, and Kathleen Norman.

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