Without precedent : John Marshall and his times / Joel Richard Paul.

New York : Riverhead Books, 2018.

1st edition

88456

Marshall, John, -- 1755-1835.

United States. -- Supreme Court -- Biography.

Judges -- United States -- Biography.

1. The frontier soldier

2. A revolutionary capital

3. Debating the constitution

4. Slaves and hypocrites

5. Innocence lost

6. Citizen Genet

7. Entangling alliances

8. Jay's treaty

9. Talleyrand

10. Not a sixpence

11. Love and war

12. Tossed into the Seine

13. The XYZ papers

14. The Jonathan Robbins affair

15. Privateers and pirates

16. The new order of things

17. Showdown

18. A strategic retreat

19. Prizes of war

20. High crimes

21. Treason

22. Estrangement

23. The meaning of sovereignty

24. Washington burning

25. Friends and enemies

26. The supreme law

27. The pirate lottery

28. The great steamboat case

29. Public and private

30. Right remains with the strongest

31. An extravagant pretence

32. In the conqueror's court

33. A union prolonged by miracles.

No member of America's Founding Generation had a greater impact on the Constitution and the Supreme Court than John Marshall, and no one did more to preserve the delicate unity of the fledgling United States. From the nation's founding in 1776 and for the next forty years, Marshall was at the centre of every political battle. As Chief Justice of the United States - the longest-serving in history - he established the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the federal Constitution and courts. As the leading Federalist in Virginia, he rivalled his cousin Thomas Jefferson in influence. As a diplomat and secretary of state, he defended American sovereignty against France and Britain, counselled President John Adams, and supervised the construction of the city of Washington. D.C. This is the astonishing true story of how a rough-cut frontiersman - born in Virginia in 1755 and with little formal education - invented himself as one of the nation's preeminent lawyers and politicians who then reinvented the Constitution to forge a stronger nation. Without Precedent is the engrossing account of the life and times of this exceptional man, who with cunning, imagination, and grace shaped America's future as he held together the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the country itself. - Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 477-488) and index.

9781594488238

502 p. ; 24 cm