Peter Vivian Daniel (American National Biography)

Daniel brought to the court a devotion to simple Jeffersonian agrarianism and an inveterate hatred of banks and corporations in general. Passionately committed to states' rights, state sovereignty, and limited government, he envisioned himself as a crusader against rising national power and economic consolidation and a defender of slavery. In a rapidly changing economic and social world, Daniel was doomed to fight a rearguard action against American progress and the irrepressible legal and constitutional developments that came with it. By the end of his eighteen years on the court, his voice was heard often in dissent.