John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism*
A. Marshall most important chief justice in U.S. history
(1801-1835)
1. Significantly strengthened the Supreme Court
in Marbury v. Madison
(1803) and other cases.
2. His decisions greatly increased power of the
federal government over
the states.
a. Strengthened the
union and helped create a stable, nationally
uniform
environment for business.
b. Checked excesses of the
popularly elected state legislatures.
c. Ironically, his
decisions at times hampered democracy at a time
when
America was become much more democratic during the
Jacksonian
era.
3. Examined cases from a Federalist philosophy
and found legal
precedents to support
his Hamiltonian views.
a. Jeffersonian
attempts to balance the Court with Republicans
failed.
b. Republicans came to
accept the Federalist ideal of strong central
gov't.
B. Fletcher v. Peck (1810) (protection of property rights against
popular
pressures)
1. Issue: New Georgia legislature canceled a
contract which had granted
35 million acres in the
Yazoo River country (Miss.) to private
speculators as a form
of graft.
-- Previous legislature
had made the grant in what was called "Yazoo
Land Controversy"
during Jeffersons presidency.
2. Significance: Court ruled the Constitution
forbids state from "impairing
contracts".
a. One of earliest
examples of Court asserting its right to invalidate
state
laws.
b. Court stated the
legislative grant was a contract (albeit fraudulently
secured)
C. Martin v. Hunters Lessee (1816)
1. Issue: Did Supreme Court (as provided for in
Judiciary Act of 1789) have
the right to review
decisions of state supreme courts where federal statutes
or treaties were
involved or when state laws had been upheld under the
federal Constitution?
-- Virginia sought to
disregard Treaty of Paris (1783) and Jays Treaty (1794)
regarding confiscation
of Loyalist lands.
2. Decision: Supreme Court rejected
"compact theory" and state claims that
they were equally
sovereign with the federal govt.
3. Significance: Upheld Supremacy Clause of the
Constitution and federal
j udicial supremacy
over the states.
D. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) (Blow to states' rights)
1. Issue: Maryland tried to destroy Baltimore
branch of the BUS by taxing its
notes.
2. Marshall declared US bank constitutional
invoking Hamilton's doctrine of
implied powers (elastic
clause of the constitution --"necessary &
proper").
a."Loose
construction" given major boost.
b. Argued the
Constitution derived from the consent of the people and
thus
permitted the gov't to act for their benefit.
3. Denied Maryland the right to tax the bank:
"..that the power to tax
involves the power to
destroy" and "that a power to create implies the
power to
preserve."
E. Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) (protection of property rights
from
the states)
1. Issue: New Hampshire had changed a charter
granted to the college by King
George III in 1769.
Republicans sought to remove "private" aspect of school &
make a state
institution.
-- Dartmouth appealed;
defended by Daniel Webster, an alumnus.
2. Ruling: Charter was a contract; states could
not invalidate it according to
Constitution.
3. Significance:
a. Positive:
safeguarded business from domination by the states.
b. Negative: set
precedent giving corporations the ability to escape
govt
control.
F. Cohens v. Virginia (1821) (Blow to states' rights)
1. Significance: Marshall asserted right of
Supreme Court to review decisions
o f the state supreme courts in all questions
involving powers of the federal
gov't.
a. Significant blow to
states' rights.
b. Similar to Martin v.
Hunters Lessee case (above)
2. Issue: Virginia courts convicted Cohens for
selling lottery tickets illegally.
a. State supreme court
upheld the decision
b. Marshall overturned
it.
G. Gibbons v. Ogden -- 1824 ("steamboat case") (Blow to
states' rights)
1. Significance: Marshall ruled Constitution
conferred on Congress alone the
right to control
interstate commerce.
2. Issue: NY tried to grant a monopoly of river
commerce between NY & NJ to
a private company
(owned by Ogden). Gibbons had congressional approval to
conduct business on the
same waters.
3. Court ruled interstate streams were to
regulated by Congress, not
individual states.
H. Daniel Webster became an important influence in Marshalls
decisions.
1. Advocated strongly Federalist and
nationalist views before the Supreme
Court.
-- He actually
"ghost wrote" some of the Courts opinions.
2. Classic speeches in the Senate, challenging
states' rights and nullification,
were largely
repetitions of arguments he earlier presented to the
Supreme Court.
*http://www.bv229.k12.ks.us/bvhs_klopfenstein/Apush_notes/Unit_II/PRESIDENT%20MONROE.pdf