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John Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States and was largely responsible for developing the power of the Supreme Court. He accomplished this through presiding over many important court cases. These included Marbury versus Madison, Dartmouth College versus Woodward, McCulloch versus Maryland, and Gibbons versus Ogden. John Marshall was born in Germantown, Virginia on September 24, 1755. Marshall served as a Captain during the American Revolution. He received his only formal education at the College of William and Mary.
Shortly after attending college for one year he became a leader among Virginian lawyers in Richmond. Between 1782 and 1791 he was a member of the Virginia Assembly, and worked for the ratification of the constitution. He became a very popular and prominent member of the Federalist party. He served in the House of Representatives, and was a spokesman for the Federalist party. In 1800 he became secretary of state in the cabinet of John Adams.
In 1801 John Marshall was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The first important case to come before Marshall was Marbury versus Madison, a seemingly insignificant case. The case was when Thomas Jefferson forbade James Madison, his secretary of state, to deliver commissions to people appointed to federal office by John Adams in the waning hours of his presidency. William Marbury, one of the appointees, in return asked the Supreme Court to order Madison to issue the commissions. The court sided with Madison on the grounds that the law allowing Marbury to sue was unconstitutional.
This case established the Supreme Courts power to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional. In 1769, King George III of Great Britain granted Dartmouth College a charter as a private school. 47 years later New Hampshire tried to make Dartmouth College a state university. In order to accomplish this, they had to cancel the royal charter that granted them a private school. This outraged many people that claimed that the royal charter was still valid and the state of New Hampshire did not have the power to revoke it. After the state did not agree, the college decided to sue William Woodward, the schools secretary, to recover the school seal and records.
Daniel Webster presented the trustees case before the Supreme Court, arguing that the state could not revoke the colonial charter, which was in fact a contract. The Supreme Court sided with the school, ruling that New Hampshire had impaired the obligation of the charter in violation of a section of the constitution. This very important case guaranteed the right of corporations to conduct business as they chose. Another of the effects that we see today is that legislatures now put time limitations in charters or include terms allowing cancellation by the government under proper circumstances. The next landmark case Marshall oversaw was McCulloch versus Maryland.
A Maryland law stated that all banks not created by authority of the state were required to comply with restrictions concerning note issues, or pay an annual tax of $ 15, 000. When the Baltimore branch of the National Bank ignored these laws saying that they were unconstitutional, James McCulloch, the cashier of the bank, was sued by the state. The case made its way to the Supreme Court. The case was formed around two points, the constitutionality of the act of Congress establishing the bank, and the constitutionality of the tax imposed by the state legislature. The court ruled that the act incorporating the bank was in compliance with the Constitution. The power of the Maryland legislature to tax the branch bank was therefore unconstitutional.
Marshall declared, the power to tax involves the power to destroy, therefore no state has that right. This case established the idea that the constitution granted certain implied powers to congress. In this case it gave them the power to create a United States bank. When Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston invented the steamboat, the New York legislature granted them a monopoly on the Hudson River as a reward. They then transferred the right over to Aaron Ogden.
A man named Thomas Gibbons, however, had a federal license to use those waters as well. When he tried running his ferry over the Hudson, he was denied doing so because of Ogden's monopoly. In return Gibbons sued Ogden, and the case made its way to the Supreme Court. The court ruled against Ogden, stating that federal powers were superior to the states in all matters of interstate commerce. Marshall also lashed out against the New York monopoly because it smoldered trade between states and therefore collided with federal law.
This decision led to widespread federal regulation of the economy. John Marshall saw many court cases come and go. He made many great decisions and rulings. If it was not for him the United States probably would not be as pleasant as it is now. Even though these rulings happened more than 200 years ago they still effect life as we know it. These cases flung around many important responsibilities and rights, they gave the Supreme Court the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, they gave corporations the right to conduct business as they chose, they gave certain implied powers to congress, and they led to federal regulation of the economy.
All these cases will continue to impact our lives as long as there is a United States of America.
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