Milford chronicle., 1931-10-23
AMERICAS GREATEST
JURIST

JOu, GfSu lHOuSu Tie great JuIlSL
= most important services to his
l country were contributed after the
death of the First President. This
is the opinion of the United States
George Washington Bicentennial
Commission which recognizes the
= achievements of John Marshall
Americas foremost jurist and one
of the leading jurists the world has
ever produced, on the one hundred
and seventy-sixth anniversary of
his birth.
John Marshall was a follower of
General Washington in the Revolu-
tionary War; John Marshall was
WashingtOn's most famous disciple
in the theory that a nation which
is to exist must be strongly central
lied and law-abiding; John Marshall
wrote the first great biography of
General George Washington.
Americas greatest jurist was born
in Germantown (now Midland), Fau-
quier County, Virginia, on Septem-
ber "a, 1855, the son of Thomas
Marshall, a friend and neighbor of
George Washington. He received
but little formal education, and be-
fore he had reached his majority his
thoughts were taken up with the i'm
pending crisis which was soon to
bring the Colonies into an eight
years struggle with the Mother
Country.
In the Summer of 1775, a regiment
of Minutemen was raised in Culpep-
er, Orange and Fauquier Counties.
Thomas Marshall was the major of
this regiment, and his son, John, not
quite 20 years of age, was a lieu
tenat. On their green hunting shirts,
/ the mothers and sisters of these vol
unteers had inscribed the motto
| Liberty or Deathi" Their banner
pictured a coiled rattlesnake with
the words "Do not tread on mel"
A green, unframed, poorly equipped
regiment, with hunting rifles, knives
and even tomahawks for weapons,
the men nevertheless evidenced a
determination which was to prove
uncrushable.
John Marshall served at Brandy
wine, Germantown, Valley Forge,
Monmouth, Stony Point, and Paulus
Hook, and was one of the most pop
lar men in the army. His athletic
ability, his geniality and kindness
won the affection of all men asso-
ciated with him.
AS the war drew to a close, Mar
shall began the study of law, and
it was not very long before he was
recognized as one of the leading
lawyers of the State of Virginia.
When the Old Dominion State call
ed a special convention, in 1888, for
the purpose of ratifying or reject
ing the new Federal Constitution,
Marshall played an important part |
in the proceedings. There was a
great deal of opposition to the new
instrument of Government, and the |
objectors were led by none other |
than the famous orator, Patrick |
Henry.
1t required a great deal of pa
tience, reason, and skill to batter |
down the arguments of Henry and |
his followers, bu the ratificationists, /
with James Madison and John Mar
shall at the helm, were able to ac-
complish this feat.
Nine years later, in 1897, Presi-
dent John Adams appointed Mar
shall, with Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney and Elbridge Gerry, on
special mission to France.
We were having difficulties with
our former ally. The French Direc-
tory was undoubtedly corrupt at this
time; ind ;irect demands were made
for a huge bribe from America, be-
fore negotiations would even be con-
Marshall and Pinckney re-
fused to deal in this fashion and left
France. The country supported this
refusal and Marshall, upon his re-
turn, was everywhere hailed as a
hero, a defender of Americas honr.
We must skip over some of Mar
shall's achievements and come down
to 1901, when he became Chief JUS ,
tice of the United States Supreme
Court. Before that time the court
was not held in high repute. 1t did I
not possess the dignity and power
which it exercises today.
But after Marshall took the reins
The situation changed. Because of
his marvellous power of analysis and I
ogic, John Marshall became a lead
az of the Supreme Court i'll spirit
is well as in name.
No man did more to centralize the
no man did more to in
erpret the Constitution, and to es- )
ablish the right of the judiciary to {
leclare Federal and State acts un-
Constitutional. The forty-four de- :
,isions rendered by the Chief JUS
ice are his living monument, still
is potent today as when he delivered :
hem. (
During the first few years of Of )
ice as Chief Justice, Marshall, with Z
he assistance of Bushrod Washing {
on, wrote the biography of his hero,
ieorge Washington. The work was Z
1SO4-1807, in five vol
mes. While this biography has been Z
by more recent histOri- 8
al research, Marshall's recountal of
ieorge Washington's life and deeds
5 still of great interest to the lay 8
IAN.
On Christmas Day of 1881, his, 3
,ife, the former Mary Willis Am 8
Ter, died, thus breaking a union Z
nat was noted for its felicity, and q
-hich had lasted for forty-eight 3
ears. Marshall never recovered &
'om this loss. 2
In June of 1885, he went to Phila- 4
elphia for medical attention, and e