John Marshall Essay, Research Paper

John Marshall was born on September 24, 1755 in Prince William County, Virginia. When John was ten, his father decided that they were going to move into a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, almost thirty miles from the house they lived.

John’s parents were not well educated but they could read and write. The books were very hard to take care of and were very expensive. Marshall had a house bible but other than that they have almost no books to refer to.

John’s father Thomas was good friends with George Washington. Washington had a library and he let John use and was the books were very helpful. The Marshall family had decided that John would be a lawyer. John went to William and Mary College, where he attended the law lectures of George Wythe. John Marshall joined the Culpeper Minute Men and was chosen as the Lieutenant.

John’s grandfather, on his mother’s side, had been one of Yorktown’s wealthiest men but the war had ruined him financially. The family had taken a small tenement apartment next to the headquarters of Colonel Thomas Marshall who extended his protection.

Marshall’s private law practice continuously grew. He became a well-known attorney but his dress habits didn’t change. Then he hired the best dressed attorney he could find for the customary one hundred dollars. Finally Marshall went to court to a hearing and was so deeply impressed that he pleaded to take the case. The fellow had paid the lawyer. He only had five dollars left and he took the case.

In 1797, President John Adams appointed him to an American Mission to France to aid in the trade negotiations. John Marshall returned to the United States to be enthusiastically received by most of the country.

Marshall was a part of the Marbury vs. Madison trial, his opinion of the trial was his intellectual and of moral force and he foreshadowed the views he would express in later trials.

After becoming the First Chief Justice Marshall was asked by the nephew of George Washington to write the official biography. He was unprepared to write the biography but he decided to do it anyway. The biography that he wrote took four years to write and was five volumes.

John Marshall fought in many trials during his lifetime, they are:

Marbury vs. Madison fought in 1803

McColloch Vs. Maryland fought in 1819

Dartmouth College vs. Woodward fought in 1819

Cohens vs. Virginia fought in 1821

Gibbons vs. Odgen fought in 1831

Cherokee Nation vs. State of Georgia fought in 1831

Three years after the Cherokee Nation vs. State of Georgia trial John Marshall died. Now, in his honor, there is a dedicated law school, in Chicago, named after him because of his accomplishments. John Marshall Law School is where my father attended law school.