Chief Justice: John Marshall

John Marshall’s life began on September 24, 1755 near the city of Germantown in Virginia. As Marshall was growing up he spent one year of education at Archibald Campbell’s Academy. He then became home schooled by his father Thomas Marshall. As the months past by, John Marshall found himself reading Commentaries on the Laws of England by Blackstone. Reading this book influenced him to become one of the greatest lawyers of all time. He studied law in 1780 by attending lectures at College of William & Mary in Williamsburg. Marshall’s life began to evolve that same year as he started his own law practice. His courts impacted society the development of the powers for our government today. Chief Justice John Marshall developed many ways for ruling …show more content…
Many of his precedents were developed by the despite the disapproval of the Jeffersonian Republicans. The Jeffersonian Republicans were people who believed in a stronger state government, and also distressed about immoderate federal power. John Marshall only believed in states rights in the Constitution, even though The Marshall Court ruled many cases dealing with the states. For example, in the case “Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1818), the state legislature was forbidden to alter the college charter. Because of that, a principle was established that included charters were contracts, so they could not be impaired. In the quote, “No states shall pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto, or law impairing the obligation of contracts.” (Document K), it emphasizes on prohibiting states from enacting any law that conflicts impairs contract rights. Another example is the case of Maryland v. McCulloch. In this case John Marshall knew that the federal government had more control over currency. In the document, it states “The powers of the general government, it has been said, are delegated by the States, who alone are truly sovereign; and must be exercised in subordination to the States, who alone possess supreme dominion. This great principle is, that the constitution and the laws made in pursuance therefore are supreme; that they control the …show more content…
“Marshall inherited a functioning Court, then, but one more potentially exposed for the institutional strides it had made and more vulnerable still because it got openly entangles in the violent partisan politics of the 1790s.” (Newmyer, 2001). This quote conveys the fact that Marshall made a rise in the Supreme Court, and the Court was out of sync with the rise of political parties. John Marshall defined roles by creating the power of judicial review in the Supreme Court from the court case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803. Judicial review entrenched the precedent that only the federal courts could interpret the Constitution. In the quote, “The act to establish the judicial courts of the United States authorizes the Supreme Court “to issue writs of mandamus, in the cases warranted by the principles and usages of law, to any courts appointed, or a person holding office under the authority the United States”.” (Document G), it implies the “Necessary and Proper Clause” because of the establishment of the judicial courts, it becomes necessary to consider if a jurisdiction can be exercised. Marshall was very strong about the Congress and its orders in the Supreme Court. John Marshall believed that, “congress has a right to punish murder in a fort, or other place within its exclusive jurisdiction; but no general right to punish murder committed within any of the States.”(Faulkner, 1968). This quote supports