The Marshall Court refers to the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
from 1801 to 1835, when
John Marshall
John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...
served as the fourth
Chief Justice of the United States
The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution g ...
. Marshall served as Chief Justice until his death, at which point
Roger Taney took office. The Marshall Court played a major role in increasing the power of the judicial branch, as well as the power of the national government.
Membership
The Marshall Court began in 1801, when President
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
appointed
Secretary of State John Marshall to replace the retiring
Oliver Ellsworth
Oliver Ellsworth (April 29, 1745 – November 26, 1807) was a Founding Father of the United States, Attorney at law, attorney, jurist, politician, and diplomat. Ellsworth was a framer of the United States Constitution, United States senator fr ...
. Marshall was nominated after former Chief Justice
John Jay
John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...
refused the position; many in Adams's party advocated the elevation of Associate Justice
William Paterson, but Adams refused to nominate someone close to his intra-party rival,
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...
.
The Marshall Court began with Marshall and five Associate Justices from the Ellsworth Court:
William Cushing
William Cushing (March 1, 1732 – September 13, 1810) was an American lawyer who was one of the original five associate justices of the United States Supreme Court; confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, he served until ...
, William Paterson,
Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase (April 17, 1741 – June 19, 1811) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, signer of the Continental Association and United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryla ...
,
Bushrod Washington
Bushrod Washington (June 5, 1762 – November 26, 1829) was an American attorney and politician who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1798 to 1829. On the Supreme Court, he was a staunch ally of Chi ...
, and
Alfred Moore
Alfred Moore (May 21, 1755 – October 15, 1810) was an American judge, lawyer, planter and military officer who became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Moore Square, a park located in the Moore Square Histo ...
. President
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
appointed
William Johnson to replace Moore after Moore resigned in 1804. In 1807, Jefferson appointed two more justices, as Paterson died and Congress added a new seat for an Associate Justice. Jefferson successfully nominated
Henry Brockholst Livingston and
Thomas Todd
Thomas Todd (January 23, 1765 – February 7, 1826) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1807 to 1826. Raised in the Colony of Virginia, he studied law and later participated in the founding of Kentucky, ...
. President
James Madison
James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...
appointed
Gabriel Duvall and
Joseph Story
Joseph Story (September18, 1779September10, 1845) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1812 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in ''Martin ...
in 1811 and 1812, replacing Cushing and Chase. Madison had nominated
Alexander Wolcott to replace Cushing, but the Senate voted him down. President
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...
appointed
Smith Thompson to succeed Livingston in 1823. President
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
successfully nominated
Robert Trimble to replace Todd in 1826. Trimble died in 1828, and Adams's nomination of
John J. Crittenden was blocked by the Senate. Instead, Trimble was succeeded by
John McLean, who was appointed by
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
. In 1830, Jackson appointed
Henry Baldwin to replace Washington, and in 1834, Jackson appointed
James Moore Wayne to replace Johnson. In 1835, Jackson nominated
Roger Taney to succeed the retiring Duvall, but the nomination was denied by the Senate. Marshall died in 1835, and Taney was instead nominated to replace Marshall as Chief Justice. Taney was confirmed in 1836, beginning the
Taney Court.
Timeline
Other branches
Presidents during this court included
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
,
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
,
James Madison
James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...
,
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...
,
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
, and
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
. Congresses during this court included
6th through the
24th United States Congresses.
Political role
Marshall took office during the final months of John Adams's presidency. His appointment entrenched Federalist power within the judiciary. The
Judiciary Act of 1801
The Midnight Judges Act (also known as the Judiciary Act of 1801; , and officially An act to provide for the more convenient organization of the Courts of the United States) expanded the federal judiciary of the United States. The act was supporte ...
also established several new court positions that were filled by President Adams, but the act was
largely repealed after the
Democratic-Republicans
The Democratic-Republican Party (also referred to by historians as the Republican Party or the Jeffersonian Republican Party), was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s. It championed li ...
took control of the government in the
1800 elections. Regardless, Marshall was the last justice appointed by a president of the
Federalist Party
The Federalist Party was a conservativeMultiple sources:
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* and nationalist American political party and the first political party in the United States. It dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 17 ...
, and the last justice appointed by a president who was not a member of the Democratic-Republicans or
Democratic Party until the 1840s. Although Democratic-Republicans had appointed a majority of the justices after 1811, Marshall's philosophy of a relatively strong national government continued to guide the decisions of the Supreme Court until his death. The Democratic-Republicans attempted to impeach Justice Chase for overtly campaigning for
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
's re-election, possibly impeding the independence of the Supreme Court, but the attempt failed after defections from within the party. Marshall's philosophy differed dramatically from that of some of his contemporaries outside the court, including
Spencer Roane, who wrote a series of essays arguing that state courts should have the final say in most matters. Marshall's domination of the courts ensured that the federal government would retain relatively strong powers, despite the political domination of Jeffersonians after 1800. Marshall's opinions also helped to reinforce the independent power of the Supreme Court as a check on Congress,
and laid some of the philosophical foundations of the
Whig Party, which arose in the 1830s.
Due to the Marshall Court's many accomplishments, President Adams referred to his appointment of Marshall as the "proudest act of his life."
Rulings of the Court
The Marshall Court issued several major rulings during its tenure, including:
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Marbury v. Madison
''Marbury v. Madison'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that established the principle of judicial review, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statutes they find ...
'' (1803): In a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court struck down Section 13 of the
Judiciary Act of 1789
The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article Three of th ...
, since it extended the court's original jurisdiction beyond what was established in Article III of the
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally includi ...
. In so doing, the court held that a law written by Congress was unconstitutional, firmly establishing the Supreme Court's power of
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...
. Although judicial review had a long history in American and British thought, ''Marbury'' was nonetheless extremely important for establishing the Supreme Court's independence and ability to strike down laws of Congress that it deemed unconstitutional.
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Fletcher v. Peck'' (1810): In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court held that the state of Georgia had violated the
Contract Clause
Article One of the United States Constitution#Clause 1: Contract Clause, Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the Contract Clause, imposes certain prohibitions on the U.S. state, states. These prohibitio ...
by voiding land grants in the
Yazoo lands that had been influenced by bribery. The case marked the first time that the court struck down a state law as unconstitutional.
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Martin v. Hunter's Lessee
''Martin v. Hunter's Lessee'', 14 U.S. (1 Wheat.) 304 (1816), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States decided on March 20, 1816. It was the first case to assert ultimate Supreme Court authority over state courts in civi ...
'' (1817): In an opinion written by Justice Story, the court held that it had held appellate power over state courts in regards to the United States Constitution and federal laws and treaties. The Supreme Court would again uphold this principle in ''
Cohens v. Virginia'' (1821).
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McCulloch v. Maryland'' (1819): In a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court held that the state of Maryland had no power to tax a federal bank (the
Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Second Report on Public Credit, Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January ...
) operating in Maryland. In so doing, the court upheld Congress's ability to establish the bank, taking a relatively broad view of the
Necessary and Proper Clause
The Necessary and Proper Clause, also known as the Elastic Clause, is a clause in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution:
Since the landmark decision '' McCulloch v. Maryland'', the US Supreme Court has ruled that this clause gr ...
.
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Dartmouth College v. Woodward'' (1819): In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall (with several concurring opinions), the court invalidated New Hampshire's attempts to alter
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
's charter. The court held that the
Contract Clause
Article One of the United States Constitution#Clause 1: Contract Clause, Article I, Section 10, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, known as the Contract Clause, imposes certain prohibitions on the U.S. state, states. These prohibitio ...
protects
corporation
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
s from having contracts interfered with by the states.
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Johnson v. McIntosh'' (1823): In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court held that private parties could not validly purchase land from
Native Americans.
*''
Gibbons v. Ogden'' (1824): In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court struck down a New York law that had granted a monopoly on steamship operation in the state of New York. In its decision, the court upheld Congress's ability to regulate commerce under the
Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...
.
[Schwartz, 47-49]
*''
Worcester v. Georgia
''Worcester v. Georgia'', 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from ...
'' (1832): In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court voided the state of Georgia's conviction of
Samuel Worcester and held that states have no authority to deal with
Native American tribes. However, President
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...
refused to enforce the court's prohibition against Georgia's interference in
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
affairs.
*''
Barron v. Baltimore
''Barron v. Baltimore'', 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 243 (1833), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case in 1833, which helped define the concept of federalism ...
'' (1833): In a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court held that the
Bill of Rights
A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...
does not apply to the actions of state governments. The decision would later be largely overruled by the ratification of the
Fourteenth Amendment and subsequent Supreme Court decisions.
For a full list of decisions by the Marshall Court, see
lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
The following is a list of cases decided by the United States Supreme Court organized by volume of the ''United States Reports'' in which they appear. This is a list of volumes of ''U.S. Reports'', and the links point to the contents of each indiv ...
, volumes
5 through
34.
See also
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Aboriginal title in the Marshall Court
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Criminal law in the Marshall Court
References
Further reading
Works centered on the Marshall Court
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1810s in the United States
1820s in the United States
United States Supreme Court history by court
Supreme Court of the United States