Existing comment:
John Marshall (1755-1835), by John Reid Lambdin, 1832. Marshall was secretary of state to President John Adams before Adams appointed him Chief Justice of the United States, a position he held from 1801 until his death in 1835. Marshall was a Federalist -- a supporter of a strong central government -- which put him at odds with Jeffersonian states' rights Virginians. He made the Supreme Court a co-equal branch of government. His rulings in favor of property rights greatly strengthened American capitalism while other "isms" were gaining an audience in Europe. |