Marshall, John (1755-1835), the fourth chief justice of the United States, established the Supreme Court as an important branch of the federal government. He served from 1801 until his death 34 years later, longer than any other chief justice. Marshall is known as the “Great Chief Justice” because of his tremendous impact on the U.S. judicial system.
When Marshall became chief justice, the Supreme Court commanded little respect. Marshall raised the court to a level equal to the executive and legislative branches of the government. He used the court’s authority to restructure and clearly define the boundaries of power between the states and the federal government. Marshall established broad judicial principles. Some of these principles laid the foundation for modern decisions that made possible the court’s ruling in such areas as civil rights and criminal justice.
During Marshall’s years as chief justice, the United States was governed by Democratic-Republicans and Democrats. Most of these leaders—President Thomas Jefferson, in particular—believed in states’ rights. Marshall, however, was a Federalist. He believed that the United States, still a young nation in the early 1800’s, greatly needed a strong central government. Marshall felt that such a government—rather than strong state governments—could best help the United States grow strong and safe. Through the force of his arguments, Marshall gave the court the power to overrule the states when national and state interests collided.
Early life.
Marshall was born on Sept. 24, 1755, in a log cabin near Germantown, Virginia. His mother was related to Thomas Jefferson. John’s father served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and as a county sheriff. John spent much of his first 20 years helping to raise his 14 younger brothers and sisters on the family farm. He had little formal schooling.
Marshall joined the Continental Army in 1776, during the Revolutionary War in America. He spent the winter of 1777-1778 with General George Washington’s forces at Valley Forge, and he was promoted to captain in 1778. In 1780, Marshall studied law briefly at the College of William and Mary and was admitted to the Virginia bar.
Political career.
In 1782, Marshall was elected to his first term in the Virginia legislature and moved to Richmond. That same year, he became a member of the Council of State, the executive branch of government in Virginia. In 1783, Marshall married Mary Willis Ambler of Richmond. He resigned from the Council of State in 1784, when it was decided he could not practice law at the same time. However, Marshall quickly regained his seat in the state legislature and continued his distinguished legal career. In 1788, Marshall was elected to the state convention called to decide whether to ratify (approve) the proposed Constitution of the United States. He helped win ratification by Virginia.
Marshall served several more terms in the Virginia legislature until 1797, when he became a U.S. minister to France under President John Adams. Adams sent Marshall and two other ambassadors to Paris to negotiate with the French government over French interference with American trade. When Marshall returned in 1798, he was hailed as a hero for refusing to give in to unreasonable and somewhat dishonorable French demands in what became known as the XYZ Affair (see XYZ Affair). Marshall was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1799. He quickly became the leader of the moderate Federalists and championed the policies of President Adams. This position made him a rival of his distant cousin and fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, and the two men never agreed on many things again. In 1800, Adams appointed Marshall secretary of state.
Chief justice.
In January 1801, as Adams’ term neared a close, he appointed Marshall chief justice of the United States. The U.S. Senate quickly confirmed the nomination, and Marshall took the position on Feb. 4, 1801. Marshall believed that the Constitution, upon which the national government was based, must be accepted as the supreme law of the land.
In 1803, Marshall wrote the opinion in the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison. In this case, the Supreme Court struck down an act of Congress that was in conflict with the Constitution. The decision firmly established the court’s power to declare laws unconstitutional, a power known as judicial review. Afterward, Marshall used the power of his position to persuade his fellow justices to accept his view of the Constitution and the need for a strong judiciary and a strong central government, especially in the area of commerce. President Thomas Jefferson and his fellow Democratic-Republicans feared that the Supreme Court would use its power to help the Federalists weaken the states. However, judicial review strengthened the Constitution and remained one of the Supreme Court’s greatest powers.
The Marbury v. Madison ruling opened the way for a series of landmark Supreme Court decisions. One of the most important cases in the court’s history was McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). The court ruled that Congress possessed implied powers—that is, powers not specifically stated in the Constitution. In this case, Marshall upheld the power of Congress to create the United States Bank and ruled that the state of Maryland’s attempt to tax the bank was unconstitutional. This decision was crucial to the growth of the United States because it allowed for changes in the needs of the nation over time. It also firmly established the superiority of federal power over state power in case of conflict.
In the case of Fletcher v. Peck (1810), Marshall established that the Constitution protects contracts against interference from the states. In this case, the court declared a state law unconstitutional for the first time.
In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the court rejected the authority of a New York law that hindered out-of-state commercial steamboats from doing business in its waters. Marshall’s opinion defined national power over interstate commerce, opening the way for easy trade between the states and national economic growth. By the time Marshall died on July 6, 1835, the judicial branch of the federal government had become equal in authority with the executive and legislative branches.
Legacy.
Marshall’s reputation as the “Great Chief Justice” continued to grow after his death. Numerous biographies praised Marshall’s personal virtues and his judicial wisdom. For many years, schoolchildren were told the story, likely apocryphal (false), that the Liberty Bell had cracked during Marshall’s funeral. Statues of Marshall were erected, and law schools were named after him. Marshall’s legal opinions are still cited by Supreme Court justices today.
Legal scholars and historians later readdressed Marshall’s legacy, particularly in regard to slavery. Marshall personally held hundreds of enslaved people during his lifetime. His opinions in slavery cases almost always supported the interests of slaveholders. He was a founding member of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which sought to send free Black people to Africa, in what later became Liberia. Marshall’s interest in the ACS drew on his fear of rebellions by enslaved people, and he believed the integration of free Black people into American society was dangerous. In the early 2020’s, new revelations of Marshall’s history with slavery led Cleveland State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago to remove Marshall’s name from their law schools.
See also Judicial review; Supreme Court of the United States.
