John Marshall began as a Virginia soldier in the American Revolution before studying law and entering legal practice and state politics. He served in Virginia's House of Delegates. A Federalist, he supported the federal Constitution and served on the American mission to France associated with the XYZ Affair. He entered Congress in 1799 and became secretary of state under John Adams in 1800. Adams appointed him chief justice in 1801, beginning a tenure that lasted until 1835.

Marshall helped establish a practice of issuing opinions that spoke for the Supreme Court rather than relying primarily on separate statements by each justice. In Marbury v. Madison in 1803, the Court held that a provision of federal legislation conflicted with the Constitution, giving a powerful formulation of judicial review. The decision also avoided an immediate confrontation over delivering a judicial commission. His authority depended on persuasive reasoning and cooperation among justices as well as the formal powers of his office.

Major opinions strengthened national authority and protected legal and commercial arrangements. McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819 upheld Congress's power to create a national bank and rejected a state tax on it. Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824 interpreted federal authority over interstate commerce, while Dartmouth College v. Woodward addressed the protection of corporate charters. Marshall also presided over Aaron Burr's treason trial, applying a demanding constitutional definition despite political pressure from Jefferson's administration.

The Court's decisions concerning Indigenous peoples exposed tensions within its legal framework. Johnson v. M'Intosh in 1823 subordinated Indigenous land rights to a doctrine of European discovery, while Worcester v. Georgia in 1832 rejected Georgia's claimed authority within Cherokee territory. Judicial reasoning did not ensure effective protection against dispossession. Marshall was himself a slaveholder, and his constitutional work operated within a republic that denied equal rights to many people. He continued judicial duties and wrote a biography of Washington before his death in 1835. His career strengthened the Court's institutional position and shaped federalism, contracts, and constitutional interpretation. Assessing that influence requires attention to both the durability of legal institutions and the hierarchies their doctrines preserved or failed to restrain.