John Marshal

John Marshall (September 24, 1755 – July 6, 1835) was an American statesman and jurist who shaped American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a center of power. Marshall was chief justice of the United States, serving from January 31, 1801, until his death in 1835. He served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1799, to June 7, 1800, and was secretary of state under President John Adams from June 6, 1800, to march 4, 1801. Marshall was from the commonwealth of Virginia and a leader of the Federalist Party.

The longest serving chief justice in Supreme Court history, Marshall dominated the court for over three decades (a term outliving his own federalist party) and played a significant role in the development of the American legal system. Most notably, he established that the courts are entitled to exercise judicial review, the power to strike down laws that violate the constitution. Thus, Marshall has been credited with cementing the position of the judiciary as an independent and influential branch of government. Furthermore, the Marshall court made several important decisions relating to federalism, shaping the balance of power between the federal government and the states during the early years of the republic. in particular, he repeatedly confirmed the supremacy of federal law over state law and supported an expansive reading of the enumerated powers.

State political career

In 1782, Marshall won a seat in the Virginia house of delegates, in which he served until 1789 and again from 1795 to 1796. The Virginia general assembly elected him to serve on the council of state later in the same year. in 1785, Marshall took up the additional office of recorder of the Richmond city Hustings court.

In 1788, Marshall was selected as a delegate to the Virginia convention responsible for ratifying or rejecting the united states constitution, which had been proposed by the Philadelphia convention a year earlier. Together with James Madison and Edmund Randolph, Marshall led the fight for ratification. He was especially active in defense of article III, which provides for the federal judiciary. His most prominent opponent at the ratification convention was anti-federalist leader Patrick Henry. Ultimately, the convention approved the constitution by a vote of 89-79. Marshall identified with the new federalist party (which supported a strong national government and commercial interests), rather than Jefferson’s democratic-republican party (which advocated states' rights and idealized the yeoman farmer and the French revolution).

Biography of Washington

Marshall greatly admired George Washington, and wrote a highly influential biography. Between 1805 and 1807, he published a five-volume biography; his life of Washington was based on records and papers provided him by the president's family. The first volume was reissued in 1824 separately as a history of the American colonies. The work reflected Marshall's federalist principles. His revised and condensed two-volume life of Washington was published in 1832. vol 1. vol 2. Historians have often praised its accuracy and well-reasoned judgments, while noting his frequent paraphrases of published sources such as William Gordon's 1801 history of the revolution and the British annual register. After completing the revision to his biography of Washington, Marshall prepared an abridgment. In 1833 he wrote, "I have at length completed an abridgment of the life of Washington for the use of schools. I have endeavored to compress it as much as possible… After striking out every thing which in my judgment could be properly excluded the volume will contain at least 400 pages." Cary & Lea did publish the abridgment, but only in 1838, three years after Marshall died.

Marbury V. Madison

Marbury v. Madison, decided in 1803, ruled for the government (that is, Madison), by deciding a minor law passed by congress was unconstitutional. Ironically what was unconstitutional was congress' granting a certain power to the Supreme Court itself. The case allowed Marshall to proclaim the doctrine of judicial review, which reserves to the Supreme Court final authority to judge whether or not actions of the president or of the congress are within the powers granted to them by the constitution. The constitution itself is the supreme law, and when the court believes that a specific law or action is in violation of it, the court must uphold the constitution and set aside that other law or action.

The constitution does not explicitly give judicial review to the court, and Jefferson was very angry with Marshall's position, for he wanted the president to decide whether his acts were constitutional or not. Historians mostly agree that the founding fathers constitution did plan for the Supreme Court to have some sort of judicial review; what Marshall did was make operational their goals. Judicial review was not new and Marshall himself mentioned it in the Virginia ratifying convention of 1788. Marshall's opinion expressed and fixed in the American tradition and legal system a more basic theory—government under law. That is, judicial review means a government in which no person (not even the president) and no institution (not even congress), nor even a majority of voters, may freely work their will in violation of the written constitution. Marshall himself never declared another act of congress or of a president unconstitutional.

Other work, later life, legacy

Marshall loved his home, built in 1790, in Richmond, Virginia, and spent as much time there as possible in quiet contentment. While in Richmond he attended St. John's church in church hill until 1814 when he led the movement to hire Robert mills as architect of monumental church, which commemorated the death of 72 Virginians. The Marshall family occupied pew no. 23 at monumental church and entertained the marquis de Lafayette there during his visiting to Richmond in 1824. For approximately three months each year, however, he would be away in Washington for the court's annual term; he would also be away for several weeks to serve on the circuit court in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In 1823, he became first president of the Richmond branch of the American colonization society, which was dedicated to resettling freed American slaves in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. In 1828, he presided over a convention to promote internal improvements in Virginia.

In 1829, he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention, where he was again joined by fellow American statesman and loyal Virginians, jades Madison and James Monroe, although all were quite old by that time. Marshall mainly spoke at this convention to promote the necessity of an independent judiciary.

On December 25, 1831, Mary, his beloved wife of some 49 years, died. Most who knew Marshall agreed that after Mary's death, he was never quite the same.

On returning from Washington in the spring of 1835, he suffered severe contusions resulting from an accident to the stage coach in which he was riding. His health, which had not been good for several years, now rapidly declined, and in June he journeyed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for medical attendance. There he died on July 6, at the age of 79, having served as chief justice for over 34 years. he also was the last surviving member of John Adams's cabinet and the second to last surviving founding father, the last being James Madison.

Two days before his death, he enjoined his friends to place only a plain slab over his and his wife's graves, and he wrote the simple inscription himself. His body, which was taken to Richmond, lies in Shockoe Hill cemetery in a well kept grave.