an for the high station is not
attained until past the middle period of life, the changes are
necessarily somewhat rapid. Washington in his Presidency of eight
years nominated, for a Court of six members, eleven judges who
served, besides one who declined and one who was rejected. Down
to this period in our history (1884) it has fallen to the lot of
each of our twenty-one Presidents except Harrison, Tyler, and
Johnson, to nominate at least one associate justice. Under Jackson
and Van Buren the entire Court was revolutionized. A Chief Justice
and six associates were appointed, selected exclusively from their
political supporters. From that time onward until the Administration
of Mr. Lincoln, every judge was selected from the Democratic party,
with the exception of Benjamin R. Curtis who was appointed by
President Fillmore. When Mr. Lincoln entered upon his official
duties, the Judicial Department of the Government differenced in
every conceivable way from his construction of the Constitution in
so far as the question of slavery was involved. But one judge
could be expected to look with favor upon the course he would
pursue. The venerable John McLean, though placed on the Bench by
Jackson, had changed his political views and relations, and he
alone of all the justices sympathized with Mr. Lincoln.

The Southern States prior to 1860 had secured a large majority of
appointments on the Supreme Bench. In originally constituting the
Court Washington had equally divided the judges between the slave
States and the free States. After his Administration and until
the incoming of President Lincoln, the Court uniformly contained
a majority of Southern men. From the beginning of the Government
until the election of Mr. Lincoln, there had been eighteen associate
justices appointed from the slave States, and but fifteen from the
free States. The average term of service of the judges from the
South had been about fourteen years; from the North about twelve
years. From 1789 to 1860, the Chief Justice had been from the
South during the whole period with the exception of twelve years.
It is a fact worth noting that neither the elder nor the younger
Adams appointed a Northern man to the Bench. They appointed three
from the South. It is not among the least of the honors belonging
to the elder Adams that he gave to the country the illustrious
Chief Justice Marshall.

Directly after the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment ca