John Marshall was the longest serving Chief Justice of the United States, from 1801 until his death in 1835. He issued important decisions, including Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland, which increased federal government power. Marshall had little formal education and fought in the American Revolutionary War before studying law and becoming a leading lawyer. He served in various political positions and was a staunch Federalist who defended the federal judiciary.
John Marshall, born in 1755 in Fauquier County, Virginia, is best known as the longest serving Chief Justice of the United States. From 1801 until his death in 1835, John Marshall was Chief Justice. He has issued several important decisions, which have given the federal government more power than explicitly defined in the Constitution of the United States of America. Marshall’s rulings in Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland are considered two of the most influential from Marshall’s time as the Supreme Court.
When he came of age in Virginia, John Marshall had very little formal education. In his early life, he was mainly taught by his father and a Scottish tutor. At the age of fourteen, he attended a classical academy in Westmoreland County, Virginia, where he studied under James Monroe, who would later become the fifth president of the United States. After only a year, he returned home to resume work for the Reverend James Thompson, with whom he also studied.
When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, John Marshall joined the Culpeper Minutemen and fought in many of the battles. He finally found himself at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778, where he fought under George Washington as a captain. A staunch Federalist, Marshall had great respect for Washington after having fought with him in the war. Marshall published a five-volume biography of Washington during his early years as Chief Justice appointed by then US President John Adams.
After fighting in the war, Marshall returned to Virginia to study law. Shortly after being admitted to the bar in 1780, John Marshall fought in the army until 1781. He then resigned his commission so he could set up his own practice, which prospered as he became known as one of the leading lawyers in the America. Marshall married and resided with his wife and six children in Richmond.
John Marshall has served in the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia General Assembly, and as a Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention. His convictions were on the same line as Alexander Hamilton and he fought for the ratification of the Constitution against him, his cousin, Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. One of the principles he defended the most was Article III of the Constitution which provided for a federal judiciary. Initially serving as Secretary of State to John Adam in 1800, Adams appointed John Marshall Chief Justice in early 1801.
Marshall issued many important Supreme Court decisions, however, the two most cited are Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland. These landmark constitutional cases substantially increased the power of the national government. In Marbury v. Madison, Marshall gave the Supreme Court the power of judicial review. In McCulloch v. Maryland, Marshall granted Congress the powers implied by the Constitution to give it the ability to establish the powers expressed in the Constitution. Furthermore, the opinion on this case stated that state powers could not override federal powers, when the national government acted in a constitutional manner.
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