HAKSHALL. 102 MARSHALL. tenant, and by 1777 was a captain. Hi* lirst fight was near Norfolk; he afterwards served ill the New Jersey campaign, was at N'alley Forge during the memorable winter of 1777-78, and participated in the battles of Brandywiue, Germaiitown, and ilonmouth, and in the cai)ture of Stony I'oint. During most of 1780, while with- out a command, he attended the law lectures delivered bv the famous Chancellor George Wythe at Villiam and .Mary College. The fol- lowing year lie was admitted to the bar of Fau- quier County, where he practiced for two years. In 1782 he was elected to a seat in the Virginia Legislature and soon became a member of the Executive Council. In the meantime he had removed to Kichmond. In 1784 he was again elected to represent Fauquier County in the Legislature. In 1787 he was clioscn to represent Henrico, the county in which he had lately taken up his residence, and in the f<illi)wing year was a delegate to the State convention which was called to ratify the Federal Constitution. The distinction of securing the adoption of the Con- stitution by Virginia belongs to Marshall and JIadison perhaps more than to any others. Jlarshall's refutations of Patrick Henry's argu- ments against adoption were particularly ellect- ive. In the meantime his law practice was rap- idly increasing, and lie declined a reelection to the Legislature in 1702 in order to devote his whole time to his growing practice, but in 1705 lie was again persuaded to stand for reelection and was successful. It was about this time that Marshall appeared before the Supreme Court in the famous case of ^'are vs. Hilton, in which the validity of the Virginia Scqiicslratiou Act was involved, and his able argument aihlcd great- ly to his growing reputation, lie declined to accept tile post of .Vttorney-Ocneral or the French mission tendered him liy Piesiih^nt Wasliingtiin, but finally consented to go to Paris in 1707 with Gen. C. Pinckney and Elliridge Gerry to induce the Directory to remove the restrictions which it had hiid on .mericaii commerce. .Mthough the negotiations proved fruitless. Marshall's conduct seems to liave been more satisfactory to the Gov- ernment than that of either of his colleagues. In 179S lie de<'llned to accept a seat on the bench of the I'nited States Supreme Court as the successor of .James Wilsim. but in the same year at the solicitation of Wasliington became a candidate for Congress and was elected, although his constitu- ency was decidedly Anti-Federalist in politics. Tn (^ongress he supported the .dministration in particular anil Fodcrnlist measures generally, al- though he voted for the repeal of the notorious .Mien and Sedition .cts. His most not aide cfTort in Congress was a s])ccch in support of the eon- duct of the President in surrendering .Jonathan bobbins, the murderer of a man on a Priti^h frigate, who had escaped to the T'nited States and had been delivered up to the Pritish Gov- ernment by the President. ^larsliall showed conclusively that the surrender of Pobbins wa^ clearly within the Prr-siilent's constitutional power. In May. ISOO. he was asked by President Adam.s to take the office of Secretary of War, but declined. However, he was induced to ae- eept the position of Secretary of State, which he held for a short time. On .lanuarv .■?!. ISOl, he was commissioned Chief .Tustice of the T'nited States Supreme Court. The accession of Mar- shall to the bench of the United States Su- preme Court as Cliief Justice marks a turn- ing point in liis life and an epoch in the legal and constitutional history of the Ignited States. For thirty-four years he dominated the court by his great learning and master- ful power of analysis and clearness of state- ment. Perhaps no judge ever excelled him in the capacity to hold a legal proposition before the eyes of others in such various forms and colors. He resolved every argument by the most subtle analysis into its ultimate principles, and then applied them to the decision of the case in question. His service on the bench, which con- tinued until his death, was eU'ective and consjiicu- ous not only in securing for the court tlic recog- nition and profound respect for which hitherto there had been no especial occasion, liut also in so cxpouniling the Constitution as to make clear for the first time the nature of the National Gov- ernment and to forecast the lines along which, in actual development as well as in judicial inter- pretation, the nation was to proceed. In the period of ilarshall's predominance the court up- held the Federalist theorie.s, as in the national bank case of ilct'ulloch vs. Maryland, and gave a clear definition of the relations of the State and National governments. On the subject of the constitutional prohibition against the impair- ment of contracts, noteworthy opinions were |ire- sented, culminating in the famous Dartmouth College Case, the exact accuracy of which has more recently been questioned. Particularly in the field of constitutional law the work of jlar- shall forms the greatest contribution to Ameri- can jurisprudence made by any judge, and his interpretations of the Constitution have long been recognized as an important and permanent feature of American public law. He died on July U. 1835. in his eightieth year, at Philadel- phia, whither he had gone for medical treatment. -Vside from his judicial labors Marshall, at the request of Bushrod Washington, a nephew of George Washington, wrote a Life of Oeorije Wfishinpfon (5 vols., 1804-07; 2d ed., 2 vol's., 1832). "Consult: MafiTuder. John Marshall (Bos- ton. 1885). in the ".merican Statesman Series;" Thayer, ./ohii Marshall (Boston, 1001). one of the "Beacon Biographies:" and a chapter, "Con- stitutional Development in the United States, as influenced by Chief .Justice Marshall," in Coolev, Constitiiiionat tJiston/ of the United State's (New York. 1880). MARSHALL. Ors.mis Holmes (181.'?S4). .
.iiiiiicnn historical writer. He was born at
Frnnkliii. Conn., graduated at Union College in I8;!l. studied law. spending some time at Yale, and entered into active practice. His interest in literary and historical subjects was early mani- fested. He was one of the founders of flic Buf- falo Female .cademy and of the BulTalo Histori- cal Society, ;ind for many years was chancellor of the University of Buffalo. His historical writ- inss concern chieHv the relations of the lro<|iiois with French and Knglish and are of considerable value. . volume was collected after his death entitled Uistoriral Wrilinijs of Or.fnmiis H. Mar- shall Rrlatinf] to the Early Hisiorxi of the "West (18871. MARSHALL. Stephen (c. 1594- 10.55). A Presbyterian leader. He was horn at Godman- chester. Huntingdonshire. England. graduated B..A. at Cambridge (IfilS), entered the ministry and joined the ranks of the non-conformists. He Tvas
