In reading about our first few American presidents, one name kept appear: John Marshall. Marshall is the son of Thomas Marshall, George Washington’s surveying partner. He attended school with James Monroe and his military career in the Revolution had him cross paths with Alexander Hamilton many times. Marshall is best known as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court – only it’s fourth Chief. His long tenure on the bench allowed him to establish many procedures and presidents still in use today including what cases the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over and the use of stare decisis, or legal precedent.
Harlow Giles Unger’s biography of the man, John Marshall: The Chief Justice who saved the nation, follows Marshall from childhood through death. This book connects the better-known stories of presidents and other prominent figures to relate how they affected Marshall’s life and his decision making on the bench. Unger brings in many supporting characters and spends a good bit of time retelling these stories throughout the book with only a cursory mention of Marshall’s impact after the fact. This book is more a tale of the early judiciary branch than a biography of America’s greatest Chief Justice. I was interested in the additional information on Aaron Burr provided by the author throughout, but again, this was a tangent that spent a great deal of time on someone other than the intended target of this biography.
I give John Marhsall 3 out of 5 stars. I was disappointed to find how much time the author spent on other historical figures and events than on Marshall himself. This book was more of a capstone read, pulling together all the books I have previously read about the Washingtons, the Adamses, and the supporting casts. I felt like this was a repeat of everything I have heard, and not much new information learned. It is well written and was an enjoyable read, other than the repeat information.
I would recommend this book to readers who haven’t read as many books about this time period and its heroes as I have. I would also recommend this book for readers looking to learn about Supreme Court History. The final third of the text centers more on Marshall’s life on the bench and would be beneficial.
I chose John Marshall as my historical biography read for October. After encountering his name several times, I was intrigued. He barely received any formal education until after the Revolution and went out to become a great lawyer and juror. As stated above, I found myself interested in another character of this book – Aaron Burr. My next historical biography will follow Thomas Jefferson, the president for whom Burr served as second in command. As we progress through Jefferson’s time in office, I’m looking forward to learning more about this complicated man!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: The Book of Magic, Alice Hoffman
- Current audio book: Born Confused, Tanuja Desai Hidier
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Nights in Rodanthe, Nicholas Sparks
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