Letter from Roger B. Taney to Unknown Recipient

Lawyer and banker Roger Brooke Taney responds to a client who wants to collect a toll from travelers that ford a river rather than use their tolled bridge. While an "Act of 1818" prohibits such collections, Taney suggests a different solution: "Obstruct[ing] the ford as the law authorize[s] you to do. The public must then use the bridge & using the bridge the law compels them to pay the toll." Transcript included.