MARSHALL, JOHN

born Sept. 24, 1755, near Germantown, Va. died July 6, 1835, Philadelphia fourth chief justice of the United States and principal founder of the U.S. system of constitutional law, including the doctrine of judicial review. The first of Marshall's great cases in more than 30 years of service was Marbury v. Madison (1803), which established the Supreme Court's right to state and expound constitutional law. His most important decision in exercising this authority was in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), which upheld the authority of Congress to create the Bank of the United States. During his tenure Marshall participated in more than 1,000 decisions, writing 519 of them himself. Additional reading Albert J. Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall, 4 vol. (191619), is the standard biography of Marshall and the most detailed and comprehensive account of his life and career; it is, however, pervasively laudatory and almost completely uncritical. James Bradley Thayer, John Marshall (1901, reprinted 1967), is a biographical essay, keenly perceptive in its appraisal of Marshall's career and work as chief justice. Charles Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History, rev. ed., 2 vol. (1937), which is a study of the Supreme Court as an institution of government, appropriately gives great emphasis to the court and the chief justiceship of John Marshall.