John Marshall by Richard Brookhiser

John Marshall is one of the most consequential figures in the history of the United States, yet too little is known about him. In John Marshall : The Man Who Made The Supreme Court, journalist and author Richard Brookhiser seeks to help us know more about this man. In life Marshall was an unimposing character. Early in the book Brookhiser relates a story about Marshall at home in Richmond. He was dressed like any other rustic. A newcomer to town asked him to carry a turkey home from the market, not realizing until afterwards that he had used the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as a delivery man. Marshall was a man of humor.  Brookhiser shares another anecdote in the book. The Justices would board in the same house when the Court was in session and they ate together. They established a custom that they could only have wine if it was raining. “Marshall would ask ‘Brother Story’ [Justice Joseph Story] to look out the window and say what the weather was. If Story reported that the sun was shining, Marshall would answer, ‘our jurisdiction extends over so large a territory…that it must be raining somewhere.’” 

These anecdotes help to remind us that Marshall was an approachable and affable man. That did not make him weak. In his Introduction Brookhiser points out that “When Marshall died in 1835, he and the Court he led had rebuked two presidents, Congress, and a dozen states and laid down principles of law and politics that still apply.” That, of course, is why we know Marshall. He was the man who turned the Supreme Court into a powerful part of the United States government. Before Marshall the Supreme Court had little influence on the nation. After Marshall the influence was powerful.

The book is well written and easily approachable by the general reader. Brookhiser is a journalist by training and profession so he does not get into the weeds of trying to explain all of the minutiae behind the laws. Instead he focuses on the political implications of Marshall’s rulings. This is important because when Marshall established the idea of judicial oversight he inserted the Court into the politics of the new nation. Marshall was well aware that he was helping to guide the nation forward. He was a Revolutionary War veteran who had served on Washington’s staff.  As a young member of the Virginia Ratifying Convention he fought hard alongside James Madison for the ratification of the Constitution.  He was a successful attorney in private practice before moving into the government. He served under John Adams as Secretary of State before he became the third Chief Justice. Brookhiser takes us through his early years without succumbing that siren call of the historian: the rabbit trail. So many writers feel a need to set up a history by giving huge back stories or going off into minute detail about some side issue. Brookhiser deftly gives us what we need to understand the subject and keeps moving.

This is an excellent book and does justice to the subject. It also delivers the reader a well written, informative, and enjoyable experience.