Born in Prince William County (now Fauquier), Virginia, his 
        father moved the family from there before John was ten years old to a 
        valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 30 miles away. Unlike most 
        frontier dwellings, the home built by his father was of frame 
        construction rather than log and was one and a half story. 
            Both parents, while not formally educated, were considered 
        adequately educated for the times and could read and write. They held 
        a significant social, religious, and political status in the newly 
        formed Fauquier County area. Books were difficult to obtain on the 
        fontier and quite expensive. But it is known that the Marshall home 
        had a bible, almost for certain Shakespeare and Dryden, and definitely 
        Pope who John Marshall said he had copied every word of the "Essay on
        Man" and other moral essays and had memorized many of the more 
        interesting passages by the time he was twelve. 
             It is likely that Thomas Marshall was allowed access to Lord 
        Fairfax's library just as his good friend, George Washington, was. His 
        very evident love of poetry and literature was seein in his later 
        life. 
             In 1767, a young Scotch minister came to live with the Marshalls 
        for a year while he was being 'tried out' by the congregation. This 
        provided John with his first bit of formal education. In 1772 he 
        received his second time of formal education at the academy of 
        Reverend Archibald Campbell but perhaps more importantly, Blackstone's 
        "Commentaries" was published in America and Thomas Marshall bought a 
        copy, not only for his own use, but specifically for John to read and 
        study. 
             His parents had long before decided that John was to be a lawyer. 
        The last time of formal education came in 1780 during a six week stay 
        at William and Mary College where he attended the law lectures of 
        George Wythe. James Madison was President of the college at that time 
        and it has been reported that Marshall took a course in philosophy 
        from him. However, while there are carefully made notes of Wythe's 
        lectures there are not any for other courses. 
             Both father and son distinguished themselves during the 
        Revolutionary War. Thomas Marshall was a trained fighter who had 
        earned the rank of captain during the Indian Wars. Thomas was a major 
        at the out break of war in a regiment of minute men raised by the 
        local counties of Culpeper, Orange, and Fauquier. He was to end the 
        was as a full colonel and the commander of Yorktown. 
             John Marshall joined the Culpeper Minute Men and was chosen 
        Lieutenant. Both he and his father were at a number of the battles 
        well known even today such as Great Bridge (also called "the little 
        Bunker Hill"), Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and ending, for John, 
        with a dashing episode as a member of a detail from the Light Infantry 
        of Virginia under the command of Major Henry Lee. 
             Marshall was a captain. The detail kept in close contact with the 
        British forces around New York. The enemy had erected a fortified 
        position at Powles Hook, a point of land on the west side of the 
        Hudson, opposite New York and had garrisoned it with several hundred 
        men. Lee and Marshall decided to surprise the garrison and capture it. 
        With Washington's approval Lee's men marched all night of Autust 18, 
        1779, moving stealthily through the steep hills, passed the main group 
        of the sound sleeping British army, and at three in the morning 
        entered the British position and captured all with the loss of two 
        Americans killed and three wounded. The prisoners were taken back to 
        American lines. The event caused a resurgence of spirit in the patriot 
        forces and much humiliation for the British. 
             It was during the time between the adventure at Powles Hook and 
        his last combat during Benedict Arnold's invasion that Marshall met 
        Mary Ambler. Mary's father was Jacquelin Ambler who Rebecca Burwell 
        married rather than Thomas Jefferson. Upon meeting Mary fell in love 
        with John Marshall, in disregard that he was an indifferent dresser, 
        often wearing mismatched clothing and an old slouch hat, and rather 
        rustic in bearing. They married on January 3, 1783. By then John 
        Marshall was a member of the bar in Virginia and a member of the 
        Legislature. Their marriage lasted almost 49 years, until her death on 
        December 25, 1831, and is a story of deep love and devotion. Mary 
        became an invalid soon after they were married. 
              Marshall's private law practice flourished. He became a well 
        known attorney but his dress habits didn't change. One potential 
        client, seeing him pass by on the street, exclaimed he would never 
        hire a man looking like that even to do physical labor. The story goes 
        that the fellow then hired the fanciest dressed attorney he could find 
        for the customary one hundred dollars. However, he kept hearing from 
        all to whom he talked that Marshall was the best. Finally, he went to 
        court to hear Marshall and was so deeply impressed that he pleaded 
        with him to take the case. There was a slight problem, the fellow had 
        paid the fancy lawyer and only had five dollars left. Marshall took 
        the case. 
              During this period he was politically active in Virginia and 
        served in the House of Delegates (1782-1790, 1795-1796). He became a 
        leader of the Federalist party in that state and started his long-time 
        political rivalry with Thomas Jefferson who had fallen out with the 
        Virginia Federalists. 
             In 1797, President John Adams appointed him to the American 
        Mission to France to aid in the trade negotiations. Marshall's 
        steadfast refusal to bow down to French demands for bribes to 
        Talleyrand and others caused a deepening of the rift between France 
        and the United States. Thomas Jefferson attacked the negotiators and 
        defended Talleyrand. John Marshall returned to the United States to be 
        enthusiastically received by most of the country. 
             President Adams asked him to become  an Associate Justice of the 
        Supreme Court but Marshall refused. In 1799 he ran for a seat in the 
        House of Representatives and won. His close alliance with President 
        Adams continued and in 1800 Adams appointed him Secretary of State. In 
        January 1801, after loosing his re-election bid to Jefferson, Adams 
        appointed Marshall Chief Justice of the United States, making him the 
        fourth one. Marshall continued as Secretary of State for the remaining 
        two months of Adam's term. 
             President Adams made a number of "midnight" appointments just as 
        his presidency was ending. He appointed forty two persons to be 
        justices of the peace for the Counties of Washington and Alexandria in 
        the District of Columbia. The Federalist Senate confirmed them, and 
        the commissions were signed, sealed, but not delivered. After Thomas 
        Jefferson was inaugurated he directed Madison, as Secretary of State, 
        to issue commsissions to twenty-five of the persons appointed by 
        Adams, but to withhold the commissions from the other seventeen. Among 
        the latter was William Marbury, Robert Townsend Hooe, Dennis Ramsay, 
        and William Harper. 
             These men applied to the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus 
        compelling Madison to deliver their commissions. The suit, 'Marbury 
        versus Madison' (1803), became a landmark case establishing the 
        practice of Judicial Review by federal courts over acts of the other 
        two branches of government. 
              The federal courts were under a sustained and determined attack 
        by President Jefferson and the Republican Party who wished to bring 
        the courts under the domination of the executive branch. Marshall's 
        opinion in 'Marbury versus Madison' showed his intellectual and moral 
        force and foreshadowed the views he would express in later decisions. 
        Throughout his tenure with the court he was deeply concerned with 
        preserving private property rights, the enhancement of the prestige 
        and power of the court, and the establishment of a strong, central, 
        federal power. 
              After becoming Chief Justice Marshall was asked by the nephew of 
        George Washington, Bushrod Washington, to write the official 
        biography. This was a task that Marshall was unprepared to do, having 
        no knowledge of the difficulties in researching and writing a 
        biography, but he needed the financial return that was expected. 
        Several years before he had purchased the Fairfax estate and still 
        owed a great deal to the present heir. The five volume biography took 
        over four years to write and met with a very mixed and critical 
        reception. Thomas Jefferson was incensed and called it a "five-volume 
        libel" and a "party diatribe". There is perhaps some justification in 
        Jefferson's perturbation. Only two pages are given to the writing of 
        the Declaration of Independence and a footnote credits its author, 
        "..the draft reported by the committee has been generally attributed 
        to Mr. Jefferson." Never satisfied with the first editiom, Marshall 
        spent almost twenty years in revising it. 
             The story of the trial of Aaron Burr for treason is replete with 
        intrigue, abusive use of executive power by Jefferson, and an attempt 
        to keep the court from hearing the case by suspending the privilege of 
        habeas corpus. 
             Senator Giles, Jefferson's personal representative in the Senate, 
        got the measure passed along with an unheard of special, confidential 
        message to the House requesting passage of the bill without delay. The 
        Senate bill provided that "in all cases, where any person or persons, 
        charged on oath with treason, misprision of treason, or other high 
        crime or misdemeanor...shall be arrested or imprisoned...the privilege 
        of the writ of habeas corpus shall be...suspended, for and during the 
        term of three months." 
             The House was astounded and Representative Thompson of Virginia 
        moved the "message and the bill received from the Senate ought not to 
        be kept secret and that the doors be opened." His motion was adopted 
        by 123 yeas and 3 nays. A motion was made to reject the Senate bill 
        and after a short, angry exchange by various factions, the motion was 
        passed 113 yeas to 19 nays. This left the way open for Marshall to 
        consider whether or not the trial belonged within the jurisdiction of 
        the Supreme Court. Marshall did find that the Supreme Court was the 
        proper jurisdiction and the trial was held. His opinion destroyed the 
        law of "constructive treason." 

Source: Richard Dixon, for The American Revolution