John Marshal's Life and Work

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Confucius said, “May you live in interesting times.” John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court certainly did, from witnessing the birth of our country, to serving as the longest tenured Chief Justice in Supreme Court History. In a span of just under two years, he went from serving as a member of Congress, representing Virginia's 13th District, to serving as the nation's fourth Secretary of State, to being appointed the fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, January.
It Begins
John Marshall was born in 1755, the oldest of 15 children born to Thomas and Mary Keith Marshall in Fauquier County, Virginia. Marshall's formal education began at age 14 at the Campbelltown Academy in Westmoreland County, because there was no school in Fauquier County until 1777(Newmeyer, 7). While at the Academy Marshall became friends with James Monroe. Thomas Marshall acquired the services of a live-in tutor, James Thompson from Scotland, to educate the Marshall children. Except for a short time spent at the College of William and Mary, this was the sum total Marshall's formal education. With direction from his father, Marshall picked up the rest of his education on his own. Part of Thomas Marshall's influence in his son's education was his introduction to neighbor George Washington and future Virginia patriot and statesman, Patrick Henry, with whom he would meet several more times in his career.
Road to the Bench
Without knowing it, Marshall began his journey to the bench with his election to the Virginia House of Delegates for Fauquier County in May of 1782. However, just two months into his term he was appointed to the Council of State, more than likely because of his family's influence and that of his...

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Beck, James M. "John Marshall, Jurist and Statesman." Vital Speeches of the Day 1.18 (1935): 554. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 05 April 5, 2014
John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court, R. Kent Newmyer, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 2001, p. 7, 27,118.
John Marshall Definer of a Nation, Jean Edward Smith, Henry Holt and Company INC., New York, 1996.
1.http://supreme.justia.com/us/5/137/case.html, May 26, 2010, Marbury v. Madison (1803) page 5 US 154.
2.http://supreme.justia.com/us/5/137/case.html, May 26, 2010, Marbury v. Madison (1803) page 5 US 154.
3.http://www.infoplease.com/us/supreme-court/cases/ar21.html, June 4, 2010, McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
4. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h256.html, June 5, McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
5. The United States Constitution; Article I, Sec.8, Clause 18, Article VI, Clause 2.

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