The Life of John Marshall, Volume 3"John Marshall (1755-1835) became the fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court despite having had almost no formal schooling and after having studied law for a mere six weeks. Nevertheless, Marshall remains the only judge in American history whose distinction derives almost entirely from his judicial career. During Marshall's nearly 35-year tenure as chief justice, he wielded the Constitution's awe-inspiring power aggressively and wisely, setting the Supreme Court on a course for the ages by ensuring its equal position in the triumvirate of the federal government of the United States and securing its role as interpreter and enforcer of the Constitution. Marshall's judicial energies were as unflagging as his vision was expansive. This four-volume life of Marshall received wide acclaim upon its initial publication in 1920, winning the Pulitzer Prize that year, and makes fascinating reading for the lawyer, historian, and legal scholar."--Amazon.com |
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User Review - curls_99 - LibraryThingI had the distinct pleasure of reading this biography, about the life of our greatest Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in a first edition. Now, this won't be such a great feat as I get into the ... Read full review
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Popular passages
Page 101 - The Constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable when the Legislature shall please to alter it. If the former part of the alternative be true, then a legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law ; if the latter part be true, then written constitutions are absurd attempts on the part of...
Page 120 - The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is in fact, and must be, regarded by the judges as a fundamental law. It therefore belongs to them to ascertain its meaning as well as the meaning of any particular act proceeding from the legislative body.
Page 140 - It would be giving to the legislature a practical and real omnipotence, with the same breath, which professes to restrict their powers within narrow limits. It is prescribing limits, and declaring, that those limits may be passed at pleasure.
Page 350 - On the contrary, if war be actually levied, that is, if a body of men be actually assembled for the purpose of effecting by force a treasonable purpose, all those who perform any part, however minute, or however remote from the scene of action, and who are actually leagued in the general conspiracy, are to be considered as traitors.
Page 263 - To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.
Page 616 - Blennerhassett's character, that on his arrival in America he retired even from the population of the Atlantic States, and sought quiet and solitude in the bosom of our Western forests. But he carried with him taste, and science, and wealth; and lo, the desert smiled!
Page 616 - Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which he had lately held in his country, he soon finds his way to their hearts, by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, the light and beauty of his conversation and the seductive and fascinating power of his address.
Page 140 - If then the courts are to regard the constitution, and the constitution is superior to any ordinary act of the legislature, the constitution and not such ordinary act must govern the case to which they both apply.
Page 616 - Possessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears upon it a palace and decorates it with every romantic embellishment of fancy. A shrubbery, that Shenstone might have envied, blooms around him.
Page 512 - But if he have no choice in the case, if there be no alternative presented to him but a dereliction of duty or the opprobrium of those who are denominated the world, he merits the contempt as well as the indignation of his country who can hesitate which to embrace...
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Life of John Marshall, Volume 3 The Life of John Marshall, Albert Jeremiah Beveridge |
| Author | Albert Jeremiah Beveridge |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin, 1919 |
| Original from | the New York Public Library |
| Digitized | Jul 18, 2007 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |