History of the Supreme Court of the United States: Foundations of Power: John Marshall, 1801-1815

In the period covered by this volume-roughly the first half of John Marshall’s Chief Justiceship-the Supreme Court faced one or another of two dark fates. The Court might languish in benign obscurity or it might go down under the lash of active contempt. How Marshall and his colleagues were able to escape these opposing perils and establish the authority of the Court is the pervading theme of this richly documented and multidimensional study, which draws on manuscript sources and contemporary journals as well as official records for an insight into this critical stage of the Court’s history.