As you can see, Davis was fond of flowery writing, and thought well of himself.
And then I realized what I was reading. It related to the famous 1871 Geneva Arbitration Case, led by attorney Morrison Remick Waite, which won over $15 million for the US Government from England for their help of the Confederate army during the Civil War. Going to another book by Davis that I'd purchased while researching this book, published in 1903 and titled A Chapter in Diplomatic History, I discovered that Davis had been quite active in the Geneva Arbitration Case.
During the negotiations with England, he writes, "I answered that I was very sorry at the position of things, but that the difficulty was not of our making; that I would carry his message to Lord Tenterden, but could hold out little hope that he would adopt the suggestion; and that, in my opinion, the Arbitrators should take up the indirect claims and pass upon them while this motion was pending.
"That evening I saw Lord Tenterden," Davis continues, "and told him what had taken place between me and Mr. Adams and the Brazilian arbitrator"- About midnight he came to me to say that he had told Sir Roundell Palmer what had passed between him and me, and that Sir Roundell had made a minute of some points which would have to be borne in mind, should the Arbitrators do as suggested. He was not at liberty to communicate these points to me officially; but, if I chose to write them down from his dictation, he would state them. I wrote them down from his dictation, and, early the next morning, convened a meeting of the counsel and laid the whole matter before them."
That Davis was playing more than just the role of a stenographer in this case was indisputable. And the case?
It was, again, the Alabama Claims or Geneva Settlement case, which had made Morrison Remick Waite's career. Checking the University of Virginia's law school, I found the following notes on the Geneva Arbitration case: "The United States' case was argued by former Assistant Secretary of State Bancroft Davis, along with lawyers Caleb Cushing, William M. Evarts, and Morrison R. Waite, under the direction of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish and Secretary of Treasury George Boutwell" (italics added).
Waite and Davis had worked side-by-side on one of the most famous cases in American history (at the time), both in Geneva, Switzerland, and before the United States Congress. And all this a full 15 years before Davis was to put his pen to his understanding of the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad case when it came before the Supreme Court which Waite was now Chief Justice of and for which Davis was the head Recorder.
Searching for traces of Davis on the Internet, I found an autograph for sale - it was a letter by President Ulysses Grant, signed by Grant, and also signed by Grant's Acting Secretary of State - J. C. Bancroft Davis.
And looking through the records of the City of Newburgh, New York, where Davis once lived, the Orange County New York Directory of 1878-9 lists the following note about one of that city's distinguished citizens:
"The Newburgh and New York Railroad Company was organized December 14th, 1864, the road was completed September 1st, 1869. J.C. Bancroft Davis was elected President of the Board of Directors"-[on] August 1st, 1868."
Given his distinguished background, and his having worked with James Taylor and Jay Cooke of the railroads in late 1860s, it's hard to imagine that Davis would insert "corporations are persons" into the record of a Supreme Court proceeding without understanding full well its importance and consequences, even if he was encouraged to do so by Justice Field.
So here is the fourth and final possibility: John Chandler Bancroft Davis undertook to rewrite that part of the United States Constitution himself, for reasons that to this day are still unknown, but probably not inconsistent with his own personal political worldview and affiliation with the railroads, and that he did it with the encouragement of Fields.
Waite was so ill that he missed the entire session of 1885 Court, was very weak and sick in 1886 and 1887, and died in March of 1888: in all probability he never knew what Davis had written in his name.
Regardless how it happened - whether it was a simple error by Davis, or Davis was bending to pressure from Fields, or if Davis simply took it upon himself to use the voice of the Supreme Court to modify the United States Constitution - the fact is that an amendment to the Constitution which had been written by and passed in Congress, voted on and ratified by the states, and signed into law by the president, was radically altered in1886 from the intent of its post-Civil War authors.
And the hand on the pen that did it was that of J. C. Bancroft Davis.
