John Marshall had a distinguished military and political career. He served in the Virginia militia as a lieutenant during the Revolutionary War and later joined the Continental Army, rising to the rank of captain. As a leader of the Federalist Party in Virginia, he was recognized for his abilities. During his more than 34 years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the longest tenure, he established the court's ability to review laws for constitutionality and defined the balance of power between federal and state governments.

2. ACCOMPLISHMENTS!!!!
I. Marshall, as lieutenant, joined his father in a Virginia regiment of minutemen
and participated in the first fighting in that colony.
II. Joined the Continental Army in 1776, Marshall served under George
Washington for three years in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, his
service including the harsh winter of 1777–78 at Valley Forge. He eventually
rose to the rank of captain.
III. Marshall was recognized as one of the leaders of the Federalist Party in
Virginia.
IV. Marshall’s leadership for more than 34 years—the longest tenure for any
chief justice—the Supreme Court set forth the main structural lines of the
government.
V. He was the Chief Justice during many important cases in history such as:
a)Marbury v. Madison (1803)
b)Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816)
c)Cohens v. Virginia (1821)
d)McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
e)Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
f) Dartmouth College case (1819)
g)Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

3. BACKGROUND!!!!!
John Marshall was born in a log cabin and was the eldest of 15 children of
Thomas Marshall, a sheriff, justice of the peace, and land surveyor who
came to own some 200,000 acres (80,000 ha) of land in Virginia and
Kentucky and who was a leading figure in Prince William county (from
1759 Fauquier county), Va., and Mary Keith Marshall, a clergyman’s
daughter whose family was related to both the Randolphs and the Lees
(two of Virginia’s most prominent families). Marshall’s childhood and
youth were spent in the near-frontier region of Fauquier county, and he
later lived in the Blue Ridge mountain area where his father had
acquired properties. His schooling was primarily provided by his
parents, supplemented only by the instruction afforded by a visiting
clergyman who lived with the family for about a year and by a few
months of slightly more formal training at an academy in Westmoreland
county.

4. IMPORTANCE!!!!!
As perhaps the Supreme Court’s most influential chief justice, Marshall was
responsible for constructing and defending both the foundation of
judicial power and the principles of American federalism. The first of his
great cases in more than 30 years of service was Marbury v. Madison
(1803), which established the Supreme Court’s right to expound
constitutional law and exercise judicial review by declaring laws
unconstitutional. His defense of federalism was articulated in
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), which upheld the authority of Congress
to create the Bank of the United States and declared unconstitutional
the right of a state to tax an instrument of the federal government. In his
ruling on McCulloch, Marshall at once explained the authority of the
court to interpret the constitution, the nature of federal-state relations
inherent in a federal system of government, and the democratic nature
of both the U.S. government and its governing. During his tenure as
chief justice, Marshall participated in more than 1,000 decisions, writing
more than 500 of them himself.