JOHN MARSHALL

(1755 - 1835)

A distinguished Richmond lawyer and also one of President John Adams' "midnight judges," John Marshall was born in what is now Fauquier County(it was then part of Prince William County) on September 24, 1755. Having moved to Richmond as a lawyer in the 1780s, Marshall married, and was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1801.

He has ruled many important decisions on such cases as Marbury v. Madison, which declared a law unconstitutional(a check on the legislative branch), defining the extent of the contract clause in Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Fletcher v. Peck, and Sturges v. Crowninshield. Other famous cases were McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden. His home at Marshall and Ninth Streets is frequently visited by tourists and those remembering all that he did for the United States.