John Marshall (1755-1835) was a prominent American lawyer and politician who held the position of the fourth chief justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1801 until he passed away in 1835. He’s often seen as one of the most impactful chief justices in U.S. history, being involved in more than 1,000 rulings, including the famous Marbury v. Madison case that set the groundwork for judicial review.
Early Life & Revolution
John Marshall was born on September 24, 1755, in a log cabin in Germantown, a small frontier town in Fauquier County, Virginia. He was the oldest of 15 kids in his family. His dad, Thomas Marshall, was a land surveyor who ended up owning around 200,000 acres across Virginia and Kentucky, making him one of the biggest landowners in the area. Thomas had worked with a young George Washington to map out what would become Fauquier County and became a well-known figure there, serving as the first sheriff and later representing the county in the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg. In 1754, he married Mary Randolph Keith, whose family was connected to two of Virginia’s most prominent families, the Randolphs and the Lees. John was born just a year after their wedding, which made him a distant cousin of Thomas Jefferson, who would later be his political rival.
Even though his mom came from a well-off family, John didn’t get a fancy education. He grew up on the frontier, first in Fauquier County and then in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was laid-back, preferring simple clothes and food, and had a friendly, down-to-earth vibe. People said his dark eyes sparkled with intelligence and humor, and his loud laugh could make anyone feel comfortable; one future colleague even joked that his laugh was too hearty for someone who was sneaky. Most of his education came from being home-schooled by his parents, but he did spend a few months at an academy where he became friends with future president James Monroe. Unfortunately, his schooling got interrupted when the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775. His dad supported the Patriots and joined a militia, so John quickly followed in his footsteps, feeling a duty to both his father and his country.
In 1776, Marshall joined the Continental Army as a lieutenant. By fall of 1777, he was serving under General Washington during the Philadelphia Campaign, taking part in the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Germantown. When the army faced a tough winter at Valley Forge, Marshall endured the cold and hunger alongside his fellow soldiers, and when spring came, he trained with them too. In 1780, after being promoted to captain, he took a break from the military to study law at the College of William & Mary. As he left the army, Marshall thought about his experiences during the war and developed two key beliefs that would influence his future. First, he had a deep respect for George Washington, believing him to be the greatest man alive due to his integrity and determination. Second, he felt that for the nation to thrive, it needed a strong central government; his time at Valley Forge, where Congress struggled to provide enough supplies for the troops, convinced him of this. With these ideas in mind, Marshall set off to start a legal career that would play a big role in shaping the future of the young United States.
Political Career
At the College of William & Mary, Marshall studied law under the well-known chancellor George Wythe, who also mentored Jefferson. He got admitted to the Virginia bar later that same year. In 1782, with the war pretty much over, Marshall was elected to represent Fauquier County in the Virginia House of Delegates. He headed to Richmond, the state capital, where he worked hard to set up his law practice between legislative sessions. Somehow, amidst all this, he found time to woo Mary ‘Polly’ Ambler, the daughter of the state treasurer, and they tied the knot on January 3, 1783. They ended up having ten kids, six of whom made it to adulthood. After getting married, Marshall kept building his law career and soon became one of the top attorneys in Richmond.
In 1788, he was elected to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, where he teamed up with James Madison to persuade other delegates to back the new U.S. Constitution. This Constitution, drafted in Philadelphia the previous year, aimed to strengthen the national government, and Marshall was all in for its ratification. He and Madison managed to get it passed, but it was a close call—Virginia ratified it by just 89 votes to 79. In 1789, Marshall turned down an offer from President Washington to be the U.S. attorney for Virginia because he wanted to focus on his law practice. Still, he gradually got pulled into local politics, defending the Constitution and the strong national government he helped establish against critics. In the early 1790s, as political parties started forming, Marshall aligned himself with the Federalist Party, which pushed for a strong federal government. He even collaborated with Alexander Hamilton to kickstart a Federalist movement in Virginia. Even though many of his fellow Virginians, including Madison, joined the opposing Democratic-Republican Party, Marshall stuck firmly to his Federalist beliefs.
Marshall held off on getting involved in national politics until 1797 when President John Adams asked him to join a three-man team heading to Paris. The goal was to ease the growing tensions between the US and France. When they got there, Marshall and his fellow commissioners were shocked to find out that the French foreign minister would only meet with them if they agreed to pay a hefty bribe. They stood their ground and refused to give in, returning home. By the time Marshall got back to Philadelphia in June 1798, he had become quite the celebrity for standing up to the French. After what came to be known as the XYZ Affair, Washington encouraged Marshall to run for Congress since he was worried about the Federalists losing influence. Marshall won a seat in the House of Representatives and took office in December 1799, just when his hero, Washington, passed away.
In May 1800, President Adams appointed Marshall as his new secretary of state because he was impressed with how Marshall handled the XYZ Affair and appreciated that he prioritized duty over party loyalty. Later that year, as the chaotic presidential election of 1800 approached, Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth stepped down due to health issues. Adams offered the position to John Jay, a Federalist who had previously served in the role during Washington’s presidency. However, Jay turned it down. By the time Adams found out, he had already lost the election and was facing a Democratic-Republican takeover, which could spell trouble for the courts since many Democratic-Republicans were not fans of the federal judiciary and wanted to dismantle it.
Feeling pretty hopeless, Adams asked Marshall if he knew of any good Federalist candidates before his presidency wrapped up. When Marshall said he had no idea, Adams looked at him and said something like, “I guess I have to nominate you.” So, on January 31, 1801, Adams officially appointed Marshall as the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and the Senate quickly gave it the thumbs up. This was a huge move that even Adams might not have fully realized at the time; Marshall would end up leading the Supreme Court for the next 34 years and really shape its role in the U.S. government.
Chief Justice: Court Reforms & Marbury v. Madison
When Marshall took over as Chief Justice on February 4, 1801, just a month before Adams’ term ended, the Supreme Court wasn’t really taken seriously. In the 12 years since it was created, the Court had only tackled 63 cases, none of which made any real difference. People didn’t see it as the go-to for interpreting the Constitution, and overall, the federal courts were viewed with suspicion, seen as an old-school aristocratic setup leftover from monarchy. Marshall wasted no time trying to change that. His first move was to boost the Court’s credibility by making sure they spoke with one voice. He got rid of the practice where each justice would write their own opinion on a case; instead, they aimed to come to a consensus and put out a single majority opinion, which Marshall often wrote himself. To shake off the image of being elitist, he also ditched the fancy red and ermine robes that looked like what English royals wore, convincing his fellow justices to wear plain black robes like those of Virginia judges.
In February 1803, the Marshall Court was set to tackle its first big case, Marbury v. Madison. This whole situation started with what people called the ‘midnight judges’—those judicial appointments that Adams made in the final days of his presidency. Along with Marshall getting a spot on the Supreme Court, Adams appointed around 60 folks to various federal courts, most of whom were Federalists. When Thomas Jefferson took over as president, he saw this as a sneaky move to fill the courts with Federalists and told his secretary of state, Madison, to block any remaining appointments. One of those blocked was Maryland Federalist William Marbury, who decided to sue the State Department for his commission. Marbury claimed that the Supreme Court could force Madison to hand over his commission using Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 through a writ of mandamus. This put the Supreme Court in a tricky position. If they sided with Marbury and issued the writ, the president could just ignore it, making the Court look bad and weakening its authority. On the flip side, if they sided with Jefferson and Madison, it would make the Court seem like just a puppet for the president, which wouldn’t do much for its legitimacy either.
In a tough spot, Marshall made a decision that’s often seen as one of the smartest moves in Supreme Court history. On February 24, 1803, he shared the Court’s majority opinion, saying that Marbury had every right to the position Adams had given him and that the current president couldn’t just take away someone else’s rights whenever he felt like it (Wood, 441). But then Marshall pointed out that the Court couldn’t force Madison to hand over the commission through a writ of mandamus because the Constitution didn’t grant them that power. He argued that the authority to issue such a writ, based on Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, went beyond what was allowed under Article III of the Constitution, making that section unconstitutional. Since Americans viewed the Constitution as the ultimate law of the land, Marshall concluded that any law that contradicted it was void, and both courts and other branches of government had to follow that law.
With this ruling, Marshall managed to keep the Court from looking weak; he acknowledged Marbury’s rightful claim but sidestepped angering the Jefferson administration by not pushing for a writ of mandamus. More importantly, the Marshall Court took the groundbreaking step of declaring a Congressional act unconstitutional and invalid. This case set the stage for the Constitution to be recognized as a legal document, not just a political one, and established the principle of judicial review, allowing courts to strike down any laws that seemed to go against the Constitution.
More Affairs
The Marshall Court
During his 30 years on the Supreme Court, Marshall tackled over 1,000 cases and wrote the majority opinion for almost half of them. He was involved in some major cases that, like Marbury, bolstered the idea of judicial review. In cases like United States v. Peters (1809), Fletcher v. Peck (1810), and Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816), the Supreme Court claimed its right to review and overturn decisions made by state courts and laws passed by state legislatures. Then in 1819, the Marshall Court dealt with McCulloch v. Maryland, where Maryland questioned whether creating a national bank was constitutional. The court ruled that Congress could indeed set up a national bank, saying they had ‘implied powers’ under the Constitution. This case further defined what powers the federal government held.
The Supreme Court only met for about six or seven weeks each year, and during the rest of the time, justices were expected to handle circuit court duties. While doing this, Marshall oversaw the treason trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr in 1807, which took place in Richmond at his 5th Circuit Court. Burr was arrested on suspicion of stirring up trouble out West; some thought he was planning to invade Spanish-held Mexico, while others believed he wanted to create a new country for himself. President Jefferson was eager for a conviction for political reasons and worked hard to make it happen. However, Marshall wasn’t convinced that Burr had done anything serious enough for a conviction. By his definition of ‘treason’, someone had to actively fight against the US government, which Burr hadn’t really done. So, Burr was acquitted, leading to protests where people burned effigies of both him and Marshall. After Burr went into self-imposed exile in Europe, the anger towards Marshall eventually faded away.
From 1819 to 1822, the Marshall Court was in its prime, really hitting its stride. In 1819, alongside the McCulloch ruling, the Court tackled Dartmouth College v. Woodward, deciding that a state legislature couldn’t mess with the college’s charter. Then came Cohens v. Virginia in 1821, which confirmed that the Supreme Court could hear appeals from state courts regarding criminal cases. Following that, Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824 established that the federal government had the power to regulate interstate commerce, even if it meant overriding state laws. The justices on the Court stayed the same from 1811 to 1823, which helped them bond pretty well. But after this golden period, Marshall started losing his grip as friends passed away or stepped down and were replaced by new justices. Things really shifted when Andrew Jackson took office—a guy Marshall had called a demagogue—which made Marshall’s influence in Washington wane.
In 1831, the Supreme Court took on Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, where Marshall ruled that the Cherokee and other Native American nations were domestic dependent nations, meaning his court didn’t have jurisdiction over them. The following year, in Worcester v. Georgia, the Court found that Georgia’s law banning Native Americans from entering without a license was unconstitutional. These rulings didn’t sit well with President Jackson, who accused Marshall of stepping on states’ rights. So, Jackson decided not to enforce the Worcester decision. One of Marshall’s last big cases was Barron v. Baltimore in 1833, where the Court concluded that the Bill of Rights applied to the federal government, not state governments, helping to clarify the separation between the two.
Final Years & Death
In his last years, Marshall focused on condensing his earlier work, which was a 5-volume biography of his idol, George Washington. This shortened version was meant for schools and came out a few years after he passed away. In 1831, Chief Justice Marshall traveled to Philadelphia to have surgery for gallstones. The surgery went well, but things took a turn for the worse that December when his wife Polly, who he had been married to for 48 years and had cared for due to her ongoing health struggles, died.
Sadly, Marshall didn’t live long after losing her. Dealing with his own health issues, he returned to Philadelphia for treatment and passed away on July 6, 1835, at 79. As one of the last remaining Federalists, Marshall played a huge role in boosting the power of both the Supreme Court and the federal government. Because of this, he’s remembered as one of the most significant chief justices in US history.
