Among those designated as “Founding Fathers,” perhaps the least appreciated (at least compared to his importance) is John Marshall, the nation's fourth and most famous Chief Justice. Perhaps the reason is that discussion of his fame lies mainly within the province of legal specialists and, although what they say is for the most part praiseworthy, they often tend to concentrate on recondite legal issues at the expense of grander themes of the sort articulated by, say, The Federalist. Or perhaps the reason is that Marshall's accomplishments are largely derivative in nature, because they rest upon a constitutional foundation erected by others—indeed they postdate its establishment by years, even decades. Whatever the explanation, the great man's statesmanship seems to be overshadowed by the deeds of others. It shouldn't be.
Justice Joseph Story's brief, affectionate A Discourse of the Honorable John Marshall, written shortly after his senior colleague's death in 1835, sought to capture his enduring greatness. More than eight decades would pass, however, before another prominent authority seconded Story's assessment, in the form of Senator Albert J. Beveridge's massive four-volume biography, published between 1916 and 1919. An additional half-century (and more) would pass before other biographers ventured to imitate the spirit that animated Beveridge's writing. Among them, Jean Edward Smith's John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (1996) comes closest to capturing the reasons behind Justice Story's admiration.
A number of interesting historical monographs have appeared in recent years that pay special attention to Marshall's legal craft. This flowering interest in his thought has helped to redress the relative neglect of earlier decades. Like the vast legal literature on Marbury v. Madison (1803) and judicial review, however, it tends to sidestep analysis of Marshall's statecraft. Two notable exceptions deserve special praise in that regard: R. Kent Newmyer's John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court (2001) and Charles F. Hobson's The Great Chief Justice (1996). The former (from a scholar who is also a close student of Justice Story's thought) succeeds in capturing traits that mark Marshall's transcendent greatness. The latter, by the editor of the Marshall Papers, packs more insight into 200 pages than can be found in much lengthier works. Moving seamlessly among the various facets of his subject's thought, Hobson, like Newmyer, has an eye for philosophical issues that often escape the attention of historians. But even after 50 years the best study of Marshall remains Robert K. Faulkner's magisterial The Jurisprudence of John Marshall (1968).
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