[Sidenote] Campbell to Tyler, Samuel Tyler. "Life of Taney," pp.
383-4.

Had the majority of the judges carried out their original intention,
and announced their decision in the form in which Justice Nelson,
under their instruction, wrote it, the case of Dred Scott would, after
a passing notice, have gone to a quiet sleep under the dust of the law
libraries. A far different fate was in store for it. The nation was
then being stirred to its very foundation by the slavery agitation.
The party of pro-slavery reaction was for the moment in the ascendant;
and as by an irresistible impulse, the Supreme Court of the United
States was swept from its hitherto impartial judicial moorings into
the dangerous seas of polities.

[Sidenote] Campbell to Tyler, Tyler, p. 384.

Before Judge Nelson's opinion was submitted to the judges in
conference for final adoption as the judgment of the court a movement
seems to have taken place among the members, not only to change the
ground of the decision, but also greatly to enlarge the field of
inquiry. It is stated by one of the participants in that memorable
transaction (Justice Campbell) that this occurred "upon a motion of
Mr. Justice Wayne, who stated that the case had created public
interest and expectation, that it had been twice argued, and that an
impression existed that the questions argued would be considered in
the opinion of the court." He further says that "the apprehension had
been expressed by others of the court, that the court would not
fulfill public expectation or discharge its duties by maintaining
silence upon these questions; and my impression is, that several
opinions had already been begun among the members of the court, in
which a full discussion of the case was made, before Justice Wayne
made this proposal."

The exact time when this movement was begun cannot now be ascertained.
The motives which prompted it can be inferred by recalling
contemporaneous political events. A great controversy divided public
opinion, whether slavery might be extended or should be restricted.
The Missouri Compromise had been repealed to make such an extension
possible. The terms of that repeal were purposely couched in ambiguous
language. Kansas and Nebraska were left "perfectly free to form and
regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to
the Constitution of the United States." Whether under the Constitution
slavery could be excluded from the Federal T