The Civil War has been characterized as “an appeal from the judgments of Marshall to the arbitrament of war.” Its outcome restored the concept of the National Government as a territorial sovereign, present within the States by the superior mandate of the American People, and entitled to “execute on every foot of American soil the powers and functions that belong to it.” ¹ These powers and functions are, moreover, today undergoing constant enlargement. No one now doubts that in any clash between national and state power it is national power which is entitled to be defined first, and few persons question that it ought to be defined in the light of Marshall’s principle, that a Constitution designed for ages to come must be “adapted to the various crises of human affairs.”
¹ Justice Bradley in ex parte Siebold, 100 U. S., 371.
It is only when we turn to that branch of Constitutional Law which defines governmental power in relation to private rights that we lose touch with Marshall’s principles. As we have seen, he dealt in absolutes: either power was given to an unlimited extent or it was withheld altogether. Today, however, the dominant rule in this field of Constitutional Law is the “rule of reason.” In the last analysis, there are few private rights which are not subordinate to the general welfare; but, on the other hand, legislation which affects private rights must have a reasonable tendency to promote the general welfare and must not arbitrarily invade the rights of particular persons or classes. Inasmuch as the hard and fast rules of an age when conditions of life were simpler are no longer practicable under the more complex relationships of modern times, there is today an inevitable tendency to force these rules to greater flexibility. ¹
¹ Notwithstanding what is said above, it is also true that the modern doctrine of “the police power” owes something to Marshall’s interpretation of the “necessary and proper” clause in M’Culloch vs. Maryland, which is frequently offered nowadays as stating the authoritative definition of “a fair legislative discretion” in relation to private rights. Indeed this ingenious transposition was first suggested in Marshall’s day. See Cowen (N. Y.), 585. But it never received his sanction and does not represent his point of view.
And this difference in the point of view of the judiciary connotes a general difference of outlook which makes itself felt today even in that field where Marshall wrought most enduringly. The Constitution was established under the sway of the idea of the balance of power, and with the purpose of effecting a compromise among a variety of more or less antagonistic interests, some of which were identified with the cause of local autonomy, others of which coalesced with the cause of National Supremacy. The Nation and the States were regarded as competitive forces, and a condition of tension between them was thought to be not only normal but desirable. The modern point of view is very different. Local differences have to a great extent disappeared, and that general interest which is the same for all the States is an ever deepening one. The idea of the competition of the States with the Nation is yielding to that of their coöperation in public service. And it is much the same with the relation of the three departments of Government. The notion that they have antagonistic interests to guard is giving way to the perception of a general interest guarded by all according to their several faculties. In brief, whereas it was the original effort of the Constitution to preserve a somewhat complex set of values by nice differentiations of power, the present tendency, born of a surer vision of a single national welfare, is toward the participation of all powers in a joint effort for a common end.
But though Marshall’s work has been superseded at many points, there is no fame among American statesmen more strongly bulwarked by great and still vital institutions. Marshall established judicial review; he imparted to an ancient legal tradition a new significance; he made his Court one of the great political forces of the country; he founded American Constitutional Law; he formulated, more tellingly than any one else and for a people whose thought was permeated with legalism, the principles on which the integrity and ordered growth of their Nation have depended. Springing from the twin rootage of Magna Charta and the Declaration of Independence, his judicial statesmanship finds no parallel in the salient features of its achievement outside our own annals.
[BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE]
All accounts of Marshall’s career previous to his appointment as Chief Justice have been superseded by Albert J. Beveridge’s two admirable volumes, The Life of John Marshall (Boston, 1916). The author paints on a large canvas and with notable skill. His work is history as well as biography. His ample plan enables him to quote liberally from Marshall’s writings and from all the really valuable first-hand sources. Both text and notes are valuable repositories of material. Beveridge has substantially completed a third volume covering the first decade of Marshall’s chief-justiceship, and the entire work will probably run to five volumes.