Z życia Johna Marshalla - zagadki autobiografii
Streszczenie
John Marshall is known as the Great Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
His famous opinions to such cases, as Marbury v. Madison (1803), Fletcher v. Peck
(1810), Mc Culloch v. Maryland (1819), Cohens v. Virginia (1821) or Gibbons
v. Ogden (1824) shaped constitutional law and greatly developed the future course
of American history. His federal judiciary power strengthened the national supremacy
and federalism.
The early life of Marshall was less known to the contemporaries, though it was
full of events. He described only selected parts of it in the short letter to his friend
Joseph Story in 1827. The earlier letter of the same character was written as an
answer to the editor Joseph Delaplaine, who asked him to describe his life. But
unfortunately both of those letters were lost. The earlier letter was found long after
Marshall's death in 1848. The letter to judge Story was found at the beginning of
XXc. It might be thought as an autobiography of John Marshall, but in fact, it is
only an autobiographical sketch.
This sketch is well prepared, but it gave no real picture of Marshall's life.
There are still many questions and doubts for it. Was he only so modest? Not at
all. The reader got just that, what Marshall himself wanted to present. He created
his image as good citizen, good lawyer, and first of all the ardent Federalist, who
fought for the ratification of the constitution of 1787. He also supported the
unpopular Jay's Treaty with England, 1794, and was sent to France to stop the
Quasi War and to prevent the real one. So called XYZ Affair, as a result of that
mission brought him great popularity, and he was described as a national hero. In
1801 he was nominated as a Chiej Justice of the Supreme Court and started his
great judicial career. The events after that were no mentioned in his autobiographical
sketch.
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