Learn about Chief Justice John Marshall, and see who appointed him. Explore John Marshall's significance to the U.S. government and how he changed the Supreme Court.
Updated: 11/21/2023
Chief Justice John Marshall | Career, Appointment & Significance
Table of Contents
- Who was John Marshall?
- John Marshall's Career
- Chief Justice John Marshall: Appointment & Significance
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the appointment of John Marshall important?
John Marshall's appointment to the Supreme Court was important because Marshall created the role that the Supreme Court would play in the new country. President Adams, who appointed Marshall to the court, stated that Marshall's appointment was one of his greatest achievements as president.
What did John Marshall believe in?
John Marshall believed that the Supreme Court should be equal to the legislative and executive branches of government. He also believed that the Court had the power to review state and federal laws to determine if the laws were constitutional or not.
How did John Marshall impact the Supreme Court?
John Marshall created the concept of judicial review. Judicial review is a power that allows the Supreme Court to review state and federal laws for their constitutionality.
What is John Marshall best known for?
John Marshall is best known for being the longest-serving and one of the most influential chief justices on the Supreme Court. He served on the Court from 1801 until his death in 1835.
Table of Contents
- Who was John Marshall?
- John Marshall's Career
- Chief Justice John Marshall: Appointment & Significance
- Lesson Summary
John Marshall was one of the most important chief justices ever to serve on the Supreme Court.
He was born in September 1755, in Germantown, a small rural area in the Virginia colony. As a young man, Marshall received only about a year of formal education, but he was extremely well-read and was tutored at home by a minister staying with the Marshall family. Marshall and his father both enlisted in a Virginian Regiment, and John Marshall fought in a number of Revolutionary War battles and spent time at Valley Forge. In 1780, he studied law and was accepted to the state bar of Virginia. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782, where he slowly gained political power.
In 1783, Marshall married sixteen-year-old Mary Ambler. They had ten children, with six surviving into adulthood. They remained married until she passed away in 1831, four years before Marshall died.
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Marshall began his career when he started to practice law in 1780. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782. During Shay's Rebellion of 1786–1787, Marshall realized the current Articles of Confederation were insufficient, the Confederate Congress was too weak to meet the needs of the new country, and a stronger government needed to be created. He supported the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, where a new government was being created. He was elected to the Virginia Ratifying Committee, where he, along with James Madison, one of the writers of the Constitution, would convince the other Virginia delegates of the necessity of the new Constitution.
At various points during his presidency, George Washington asked Marshall to join his government, once as attorney general, but Marshall preferred to maintain his own legal practice. After a diplomatic mission, a term in Congress, and serving briefly as secretary of state, he became chief justice of the Supreme Court. In this role, what John Marshall did was transform the Supreme Court into a coequal branch of government.
Chief Justice John Marshall: The XYZ Affair
In 1797, the newly elected President John Adams appointed three men, Charles Pinckney, Eldridge Gerry, and John Marshall, to head a diplomatic delegation to France in order stop French ships from attacking American ships. The three diplomats were told that, in order to negotiate, the United States would have to pay large bribes to the French foreign minister. This became known as the XYZ Affair, with XYZ being code for the French officials requesting the bribes.
Pinckney, Gerry, and Marshall returned home and were well-received by the country. When the XYZ Affair became widely known in America, Congress placed an embargo on France and passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, and a quasi-war between the two countries began.
John Marshall served in a number of roles in government after this diplomatic one. Former President Washington persuaded Marshall to run for Congress in 1798, and, after he won, he was known as a moderate within the Federalist Party. After only a few months as a congressman, President Adams appointed Marshall to become the new secretary of state in May 1800. Marshall's major accomplishment was ending the quasi-war between France and the United States.
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John Marshall began his role in the new government when he was appointed to a diplomatic mission to France that led to the XYZ Affair. He then ran for Congress and was later appointed secretary of state under President Adams.
When Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Oliver Ellsworth resigned due to health issues, Adams, who only had a few months left as president, appointed Marshall after other potential nominees turned Adams down. In late January 1801, the Senate confirmed Marshall as the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court, and he took office on February 4, 1801. He remained in the position of secretary of state until Adams's presidential term expired on March 4 of that year.
Who Appointed John Marshall?
President John Adams appointed John Marshall as chief justice in January 1801, after Adams's preferred nominee, John Jay, refused the position. Jay had been the first chief justice of the Supreme Court but had resigned in 1795 to become governor of New York state. Jay refused renomination to the Court because he felt that the Supreme Court, as constructed, had little power.
Adams next chose Marshall, who reluctantly accepted. Adams later wrote that the Marshall nomination was the best thing he accomplished as president.
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John Marshall's Significance to the Supreme Court
John Marshall became the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court in February 1801, and served until his death in July 1835. Marshall's significance was that he made the Court an equal part of the federal government along with the legislative and executive branches. This power was based on the cases and decisions the Court issued during his tenure.
Several of the Court's most important decisions under his leadership include the following.
Marbury v. Madison
Decided in February 1803, the Marbury v. Madison decision would set the standard for judicial review. William Marbury had been appointed to be a federal judge by the outgoing President John Adams. The newly appointed Secretary of State James Madison refused to deliver the judgeship to Marbury, and Marbury sued, stating that Adams had the authority to appoint him, and Madison could not withhold the judgeship. The ultimate issue was the constitutionality of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which stated that Madison had to deliver the judgeship to Marbury. The court upheld that this part of the 1789 Judiciary Act was not constitutional because it conflicted with Article III Section 2 of the Constitution, which states that the Supreme Court does not have judicial power over the president's cabinet.
Judicial review, affirmed by this decision, gave the Supreme Court the power to review laws passed by the United States Congress as to whether or not they are constitutional
Fletcher v. Peck
In this case, Georgia had sold land in the western part of the state that would subsequently become part of Alabama and Mississippi. Georgia later passed a law rescinding the sale. The purchasers sued Georgia in federal court, and in 1810, the Supreme Court overturned Georgia's law rescinding the sale. The Court ruled that the original sale was a contract that Georgia had to honor. This ruling allowed the Court to test the constitutionality of state laws.
McCulloch v. Maryland
James McCulloch, the manager of a branch of the Bank of the United States, located in Maryland, refused to pay taxes levied on the bank by Maryland. McCulloch claimed that Maryland did not have the right to tax the federal government. An 1819 ruling upheld the idea that states did not have the right to tax the federal government in any way.
Cohens v. Virginia
Virginia sued two brothers for selling out-of-state lottery tickets in Virginia. The brothers sued Virginia in federal court, stating that the law that Virginia claimed the brothers violated was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld the Virginia law. The importance of this decision is that the Supreme Court established the precedent that they had the legal authority to review the constitutionality of states' laws.
Gibbons v. Ogden
This case concerned the issue of who had jurisdiction of navigation of rivers and lakes in the United States. The issue was that New York issued licenses that allowed steamboats to navigate New York waterways. The United States issued licenses to steamboat operators that allowed them to navigate on waterways throughout the country. Thomas Gibbons sued after a New York State court ruled that his federal license was invalid on New York waterways. The Supreme Court ruled that the navigation of waterways is commerce and therefore fell under federal jurisdiction.
John Marshall died in July 1835, at the age of seventy-nine, after serving over thirty-four years as chief justice, the longest-serving chief justice in history. Marshall's impact on the Court and on the country were substantial. Marshall was able to give meaning to what the role of the Court actually was, because the Constitution was somewhat ambiguous as to the role of the Court within the government.
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John Marshall was the longest-serving chief justice of the Supreme Court. In this position, he was fundamental in creating what the role of the Court would be in the new country. Marshall created the idea of judicial review (Marbury v. Madison), the most important power of the Supreme Court. Judicial review allowed the Supreme Court to review laws, both federal and state, in order to determine their constitutionality. The Court, under his leadership, also created the idea that the Supreme Court had the power to review state laws to insure that they were constitutional (Fletcher v. Peck, Cohens v. Virginia).
The Court also determined that the state did not have sovereignty over federal institutions (McCulloch v. Maryland) and that the federal government's role over commerce superseded state law (Gibbons v. Ogden). Marshall's tenure at the court laid the foundation for the power of the Supreme Court throughout American history.
Marshall received most of his education while at home. Prior to his role as chief justice, Marshall fought in the Revolutionary War and was a diplomat for President Adams during the XYZ Affair, which was an attempt by the French to bribe U.S. officials. Marshall also served in Congress and was secretary of state under President Adams.
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Marshall's Early Years
John Marshall's father decided early on that his son would be a lawyer. Never mind the fact that when Marshall was born on the Virginia frontier on September 24, 1755, there were no schools for miles around. Marshall's father knew a few influential Virginians, including a military man named George Washington, and they let Marshall borrows books from their personal libraries. Other than one year at the Campbell Academy, Marshall was educated at home.
Any plans for a law career were put on hold while Marshall served with distinction for five years in the Revolutionary War. When his military service came to an end in 1779, he enrolled in a 6-week law course at the College of William and Mary, which was the extent of his time in law school. Marshall passed the bar exam in 1780.
Marshall Enters Politics
Marshall was not independently wealthy like men such as Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. If he did not work, he did not make money. That made him reluctant to enter politics because being a politician did not pay well. While he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1782, his primary focus was his thriving law practice. However, Marshall was a nationalist and a firm believer in a strong central government.
When Daniel Shays led an armed revolt against what he believed were unfair tax policies by the Massachusetts government, Marshall spoke out. He saw the uprising as a threat against the nation. Yet, after serving for the Virginia Convention that ratified the Constitution in 1788, Marshall left politics and resumed concentrating on law.
The XYZ Affair
Marshall declined offers to serve as attorney general in 1795 and a minister to France in 1796, but President John Adams was able to convince him to be a minister to France in 1797. Tension was brewing with France because France wanted the U.S.'s help in capturing British ships and in getting Louisiana back from Spain. The U.S. just wanted to remain neutral. Adams sent Marshall, Charles Pinckney, and Elbridge Gerry to Paris to see if they could negotiate an agreement.
They met with three French agents, who Americans referred to as X, Y, and Z. Negotiations fell apart when the Americans refused to give a $12 million loan to France and pay a $250,000 bribe to Prime Minister Talleyrand in exchange for meeting with him. By the time Marshall returned home, he was considered a hero for standing up to France.
Joining the Adams Administration
If John Adams had not been a persistent man, John Marshall may have never made it onto the Supreme Court. When Justice James Wilson died on September 13, 1798, Adams wanted Marshall to replace him. Marshall's conduct in the XYZ Affair had proven his integrity. However, Marshall declined.
He did run for the House of Representatives in 1799 and won. Still, the money he made representing Virginia in Congress was barely enough to pay his bills and his clients in his law practice were leaving him because he was gone so often. Marshall's career in politics was in doubt. Adams finally got his man when he fired Thomas Pickering and named Marshall secretary of state on May 12, 1800. Marshall agreed because the job paid well and he liked foreign policy. It only lasted a year, though, because Adams was not reelected.
Becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
When Adams asked John Jay to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he declined. Jay did not think the position carried enough authority. Adams chose Marshall instead and this time, there was no hesitation. Marshall became Chief Justice in 1801 and transformed the nation's highest court.
Before Marshall, the Supreme Court heard legal cases but it did not interpret the Constitution. Marshall changed that. He also established the doctrine of judicial review. That means that the actions of the executive and legislative branches of the government are subject to review by the Supreme Court. Marshall made it clear that no president or lawmaker is above the Constitution. He heard over 1,000 cases and wrote over 500 opinions, many of which set precedents for future cases. When Marshall's tenure ended with his death on July 6, 1835, he had served for 34 years, longer than anyone in history.
Lesson Summary
John Marshall's life revolved around the word of law, having been groomed for it from a young age. The Revolutionary War veteran would spend much of his young life balancing his private law practice with his work in the fledgling U.S. government. When Marshall became Chief Justice in 1801, he would do so with the conviction and vigor he had given to everything else in his life. He would go on to transform the Supreme Court and set the precedents for how it would be run.
Chief Justice John Marshall: Timeline
| Date | Significance |
|---|---|
| September 24, 1755 | John Marshall is born in Virginia in an area without schools |
| 1779 | Marshall ends his service in the Revolutionary War after five years |
| 1780 | Marshall passes the bar exam |
| 1782 | Marshall is elected to the Virginia House of Delegates |
| 1788 | Marshall serves the Virginia Convention that ratifies the Constitution |
| 1797 | Marshall becomes minister to France and resists French demands in the XYZ Affair |
| May 12, 1800 | Marshall named secretary of state by President John Adams |
| 1801 | Marshall is named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court |
| July 6, 1835 | Marshall dies after 34 years of service and over 1,000 cases |
Learning Outcomes
After reviewing this lesson, you should be able to:
- Identify John Marshall
- Summarize Marshall's life in law and politics
- Describe Marshall's role in the XYZ Affair
- Recall how Marshall changed the Supreme Court and cite the doctrine he established
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Chief Justice John Marshall | Career, Appointment & Significance
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