John Marshall was born in Prince William County, Virginia in 1775. His parents were not formally educated, but could read and write. They held a significant social, religious, and political status in the newly formed Fauquier County area where they lived. Books were difficult to obtain on the frontier and quite expensive. But John Marshall had a bible, some Shakespearean literature, Dryden, and Pope from which he learned to read and write. John Marshall joined the "Culpeper Minute Men" during the American Revolution. He was chosen to be their Lieutenant and he would finish his career as a captain in the U.S. Army.

The way John Marshall contributed most to our political system is by establishing the power of our constitution as the supreme law of our country and establishing a firm foundation to not only our judiciary branch but to our government as a whole. It begins with the famous case of MADISON V. MARBURY. It starts with President Adams making his well-known number of "midnight" appointments before he left the office of presidency. According to Richard D

ixon, writer for The American Revolution - an. HTML project. He, Adams, "appointed forty-two persons to be justices of the peace. The Federalist Senate confirmed them, and the commissions were signed, sealed, but not delivered. After Jefferson was inaugurated he directed Madison, as Secretary of State, to issue commissions to twenty-five of the persons appointed by Adams, but to withhold the commissions from the other seventeen. Among the latter was William Marbury. These men applied to the Supreme Court demanding Madison deliver their commissions from former President Adams." (DIXON 1) This case resulted in the suit of MARBURY V. MADISON.

The then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, established the practice of "JUDICIAL REVIEW" by federal courts over legislation issued by the Legislative and Executive branches of government. To borrow from the text of Rick Brainard, at About.com site 18th Century History: John Marshall's Judicial Mind Part I he states Marshall's intention and his wonderful vision of our American Constitution. "The constitution is either an unchangeable superior law, by ordinary means, or it is an ordinary legislative act, which can be alt

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