John Marshall

John Marshall (1755–1835) was an American Founding Father, statesman, and the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, serving from 1801 until his death in 1835. A Revolutionary War officer who endured Valley Forge alongside George Washington, Marshall studied law at William & Mary under George Wythe, serving as a Virginia delegate, congressman, and Secretary of State under John Adams.

Appointed Chief Justice in 1801, Marshall transformed the Supreme Court into a vigorous, co-equal branch of the federal government. In his foundational opinion in Marbury v. Madison (1803), he established judicial review—the power of courts to strike down unconstitutional congressional legislation. In landmark decisions like McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), he articulated a broad construction of federal commerce power and constitutional supremacy that unified the national economy.