Marshall was appointed lieutenant with a state militia called the Culpeper Minuteman, which was later absorbed by the Continental Army's 11th Regiment of Virginia. Marshall admired Washington when the American Revolutionary War broke out, Washington inspired Marshall, then 20 years old, to join the military so that he could take part in forming the new nation. Serving in the Revolutionary WarĪ major influence on Marshall during his teen years was General George Washington, a friend of Marshall's father. He did, however, spend one year at Campbell Academy (founded by Reverend Archibald Campbell) in Westmoreland County, with future U.S. Marshall and his father were descendants of colonist William Randolph, who had helped establish the Commonwealth of Virginia.Īs a child, Marshall was mainly home-schooled by his father. His father was a land surveyor for Lord Fairfax, and made a tidy income his cousin was Humphrey Marshall, who would later become a U.S. He was the first of 15 children born to Thomas Marshall and Mary Randolph Keith. Marshall was born on September 24, 1755, in rural Fauquier County, near Germantown on the Virginia frontier. Supreme Court, serving until his death, on July 6, 1835, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1801, he became chief justice of the U.S. From 1782 to 1795, he held various political offices, including the position of secretary of state in 1800. During his tenure, the judicial branch of the new American government rose to a level of importance commensurate with that of the executive and legislative branches.In 1780, John Marshall started his own law practice, defending clients against pre-war British creditors.

He is widely regarded as having set a broad interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, which established the document as the basis of the American legal system and the “rule of law” as the law of the land. He was characterized by others as befitting Thomas Babington Macaulay’s description, “He neither sought nor shunned greatness, and found glory only because glory lay in the plain path of duty.”Ĭhief Justice John Marshall served the Supreme Court in that capacity from 1801 to 1835, the longest-serving chief justice in U.S. John Marshall was a man for the ages in an era that brought forth greatness. The Marshall University community has taken great pride in observing the memory of its namesake, who has been described by modern-day biographer Jean Edward Smith, a noted member of the Marshall faculty, as the “Definer of the United States Constitution.” The academy was named in honor of John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, who died on July 6, 1835.

Marshall University traces its origins to the founding of the Marshall Academy in 1837.

John marshall history