Marshall, JOHN

Marshall, JOHN, chief-justice of the United States, was born in Fanquier county, Virginia, 24th September 1755, and was studying law when the Revolution began. He served as an officer—for a time under his father, Colonel Thomas Marshall (1730-1802)—from 1775 to 1779; in 1780 he received, while in Richmond, a license to practise law; and in 1781, after a final campaign, he settled down to his profession. He quickly gained distinction, and eventually rose to be head of the Virginia bar. From 1782 he sat in the Virginia House of Burgesses, the state council, the legislature; in 1788 he was elected to the state convention, which ultimately—mainly owing to his and Madison's (q.v.) arguments—adopted the new United States constitution. In 1797 he was appointed joint envoy, with Pinckney and Gerry (q.v.) to France, where he and Pinckney, as Federalists, were ordered to leave the republic, after the envoys had indignantly declined Talleyrand's overtures for a personal and a public loan. His conduct in this matter only made Marshall more respected and popular at home, and in 1799 he was elected to congress; on 12th May 1800 he was appointed secretary of state, which office he held till March 1801. In January 1801 he was appointed chief-justice of the United States, and this position he occupied until his death, at Philadelphia, 6th July 1835. Chief-justice Marshall's long series of important decisions are recognised as standard authority on questions of constitutional law; a selection was published at Boston in 1839. He prepared a Life of Washington (5 vols. 1804-7; revised ed. 2 vols. 1832) from papers placed at his disposal by the president's family. See John Marshall, by A. B. Magruder ('American Statesmen' series, Boston, 1885).