John Marshall (September 24, 1755-July 6, 1835) was the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, appointed by President John Adams, and held that position for 34 years. He had been a captain in the Revolutionary War and had served with General George Washington during the freezing winter at Valley Forge in 1777-78.
John Marshall was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and strongly advocated the ratification of the Constitution. He turned down President George Washington's offer to be the U.S. Attorney General, though he later served as U.S. Minister to France, gaining recognition for his refusal to take French bribes during the "XYZ Affair."
After having been a U.S. Representative, he was appointed Secretary of State, and finally Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1801. His influence helped form the judicial branch of the government. In the 1833 case of Barron v. Baltimore, Marshall emphasized that the Bill of Rights restricted only the national government. The country mourned at his death, and it was at his funeral, 1835, that the Liberty Bell cracked.
The Winchester Republican newspaper published the following occurrence involving Chief Justice John Marshall at McGuire's Hotel in Winchester, after he had encountered trouble with his carriage along the road:
<The shafts of his ancient gig were broken and "held together by switches formed from the bark of a hickory sapling"; he was negligently dressed, his knee buckles loosened. In the tavern a discussion arose among some young men concerning "the merits of the Christian religion." The debate grew warm and lasted "from six o'clock until eleven." No one knew Marshall, who sat quietly listening.
Finally one of the youthful combatants turned to him and said: Well, my old gentleman, what think you of these things?"
Marshall responded with a "most eloquent and unanswerable appeal." He talked for an hour, answering "every argument urged against" the teachings of Jesus. "In the whole lecture, there was so much simplicity and energy, pathos and sublimity, that not another word was uttered."
The listeners wondered who the old man could be. Some thought him a preacher; and great was their surprise when they learned afterwards that he was the Chief Justice of the United States.> 1755JM001
John Marshall, who had previously fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War and served with him at Valley Forge, described General Washington in these terms:
<Without making ostentatious professions of religion, he was a sincere believer in the Christian faith, and a truly devout man.> 1755JM002
John Marshall's daughter makes this statement regarding her father's religious views:
<He told me that he believed in the truth of the Christian Revelation...during the last months of his life he read Keith on Prophecy, where our Saviour's divinity is incidentally treated, and was convinced by this work, and the fuller investigation to which it led, of the supreme divinity of our Saviour. He determined to apply to the communion of our Church, objecting to communion in private, because he thought it his duty to make a public confession of the Saviour.> 1755JM003
John Marshall responded May 8, 1833, to a pamphlet titled, The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States, written by Rev. Jasper Adams, President of the College of Charleston, South Carolina:
<No person, I believe, questions the importance of religion to the happiness of man even during his existence in this world...
The American population is entirely Christian, and with us, Christianity and religion are identified. It would be strange, indeed, if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity, and did not often refer to it, and express relations with it.> 1755JM004
In the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheaton 316, 431, 1819, John Marshall stated:
<The power to tax involves the power to destroy.> 1755JM005
--
American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1755JM001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Marshall, 1833, as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Robert K. Doman and Csaba Vedlik, Jr., Judicial Supremacy: The Supreme Court on Trial (MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1986), p. 85. Albert J. Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1919, 1947), Vol. IV, pp. 70-71.
1755JM002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Marshall. John F. Schroeder, ed., Maxims of Washington (Mt. Vernon: Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association, 1942), p. 274. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p. 102.
1755JM003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Marshall. Allen B. Magruder, American Statesmen Series-"John Marshall," p. 265. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987; Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas), pp. 308-309.
1755JM004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Marshall, May 8, 1833. D. James Kennedy, "The Bible and the Constitution" (Fort Lauderdale, FL: Coral Ridge Ministries), p. 4. Liberty and Justice for All (Virginia Beach, VA: Regent University, 1993), p. 7. Robert Alley, James Madison on Religious Liberty, pp. 86-88, regarding Madison's letter to Jasper Adams, 1832. Background: Jasper Adams was president of the College of Charleston. He had sent Madison a copy of his pamphlet, The Relation of Christianity to Civil Government in the United States, and requested Madison's comments. Jasper Adams contested the view "that Christianity had no connection with our civil government." Rather, he argued, "the people of the United States have retained the Christian religion as the foundation of their civil, legal, and political institutions." Jasper Adams also sent the pamphlet to John Marshall and Justice Joseph Story. http://candst.tripod.com/tnppage/jasper.htm http://countmazz.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/michael-medved-america-as-a- christian-nation/
1755JM005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). John Marshall, 1819, in the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheaton 316, 431. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 402.