John Marshall was the fourth chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, where he served from 1801-1835. He was involved with many cases, such as Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland, which he gave opinions for. Marshall played on many sides, such as the; constitutional nationalist, a federalist politician and a states"-right radical. He is best known for consolidating the powers of the Supreme Court, where he promoted the American market economy. .
John Marshall was born on September 24, 1755, in Prince William County, which is now Fauquier, Virginia. He was born in a log cabin on the Virginia frontier and was the first of fifteen children. Nine years later Thomas moved his family thirty miles away to a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains. His parents Thomas Marshall and Mary Randolph Keith, both were not formally educated, but were considered to be adequately intelligent. They both had the ability to read and write. Marshall's parents were involved in many social events, as well as partaking in religious and political activities. Thomas Marshall worked with President George Washington on numerous occasions and surveyed the Fairfax Estate with him on one, and they even became good friends. This is the estate that John purchased after the Revolutionary War. Marshall's mother was related to Thomas Jefferson. At a young age books were made readily available to the child, which may have been evidence to his love for literature and poetry. .
John's parents had a plan, even before John attended school and that was that he would become a lawyer. At the age of twelve years old, John began his formal education. He was taught by a Scotch minister who came to live with the Marshall's for a year. Five years later, at the age of seventeen John attended the academy of Reverend Archibald Campbell. Also in that year Blackstone's "Commentaries" were published in America, which John read and studied.