John Marshall
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John Marshall (1755-1835) served as Supreme Court Chief Justice from 1801-1835. Marshall was the fourth American to serve in that capacity.
Early life and education
Marshall was the eldest of fifteen children born to Thomas and Mary Randolph Keith Marshall, people of modest means who instilled in their eldest son the importance of a classically trained education. When he was fourteen, he spent a year at a near-by academy studying Latin, followed by an additional year studying with his parish priest. Marshall spent the majority of his formative years in independent study.
At the age of 23, he served in the 3rd Virginia Regiment[1] as a Captain in the Continental Army, having previously served as a Lieutenant with the Culpeper Minutemen[2]. His service in the Revolutionary War confirmed in Marshall a nationalistic fervor, no doubt shaping his future jurisprudence. "After the war, his partiality to union and nationalism hardened into an unwavering conviction, as peace exposed the dangerous weaknesses of a Confederation government that lacked the power to tax or to impose a uniform commercial policy."[3]
In 1780, he resigned his commission, and began a three-month tenure at the College of William and Mary in order to study law under George Wythe, a man of acclaimed legal acumen, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Pre-Supreme Court
One of his earliest cases, Hite v. Fairfax, pertained to the original ownership of Fairfax County, Virginia, long held by the Lords Fairfax, who were landed English gentry. Marshall counseled Lord Fairfax's proxy, and won the case. The victory would cement his future as a formidable legal foe. By 1782, he would be both a member of the Virginia bar and Virginia legislature, where he emphatically urged the ratification of the Constitution.
Before becoming Chief Justice, Marshall invested his talents in other political realms. After a successful career in the Virginia legislature, Marshall was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1799.
Marshall's talents were recognized by a wide range of standing-leadership; George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson--among the Founding generation--all tried, some successfully, others not, to coerce Marshall into taking high-ranking positions within various branches of government. In 1800 he accepted President John Adams's request to serve as Secretary of the State, having two years previously rejected his request to serve on the Supreme Court.
XYZ Affair
Marshall gained great notoriety[4] as a participant in the much publicized XYZ Affair (1797-1798) in which he, along with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Elbridge Gerry hoped to settle ongoing French-American hostilities, propelled by John Jay's Treaty of 1795 and French maritime aggression against American ships. The Paris-bound trio arrived in France, and were met with an absence of cordiality and an abundance of back-door scheming. Three men, acting in France's interest and referred to as X, Y and Z, demanded that the American envoy give the French $250,000 before they would be granted an audience with Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (the French Foreign Minister). They refused, the situation worsened, and Marshall returned home.[5]
Supreme Court Tenure
Marshall's appointment as Supreme Court Chief Justice was one of many of President Adams's midnight appointments, which included the commission of 42 Justices of the Peace. Many of the commissions were never delivered, on an account of political sparring between the out-going Adams and the recently sworn-in President Jefferson. The most famous of these rebuked commissions belonged to William Marbury, who, in a twist of irony, would contest his loss in front of Marshall and his recently endowed court. The case would become known as Marbury v. Madison, and it has remained at the forefront of American judicial history ever since.[6]
See also
External links
References
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Federal judges nominated by John Adams |
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| 1798 | |
| 1799 | |
| 1801 |
Basset • Benson • Bourne • Clay • Cranch • Davis • Griffith • Hitchcock • Key • Lowell • Magill • James Markham Marshall • John Marshall • McClung • Paine • Smith • Taylor • Tilghman • Wolcott |
