Whatever prejudices the Revolution may have sparked between the two cousins were fanned into flame by the subsequent events which shaped their careers. Jefferson went to France as American Minister where his theory of the liberty and equality of men pronounced in the Declaration found startling application in the revolution taking place there. Very naturally Jefferson’s sympathy was with the revolutionists.
Meanwhile at home the masses of the people were reveling in their new-found freedom, ignoring their responsibilities as citizens, disregarding property rights, refusing to meet their debts, and showing so little willingness to join in united action that many thoughtful men feared for the survival of the new nation.
Among the latter was John Marshall. By now he was married to Mary Ambler, daughter of Jacquelin Ambler, state treasurer, who had moved with the capital when in 1779 Governor Jefferson transferred it from Williamsburg to Richmond. The elder Ambler died some years before 1807 but the fashionable quarter of Shockoe Hill was dominated by his children and relatives. The Marshalls occupied a charming brick house which John Marshall built for his wife in 1788. He enjoyed a lucrative law practice, his clients being for the most part the well-to-do merchants and members of the creditor class. Marshall’s interests and his sympathies turned in their direction. He himself came to the conclusion that the country’s only salvation rested in a strong central government. He shared this opinion with Washington and Alexander Hamilton and the other conservatives who sought to replace the loose and ineffective confederation with a compact and articulate union. These men and others with kindred ideas evolved as Federalists.
Jefferson returned home from France to join Washington’s Cabinet as Secretary of State. It soon became apparent that an ideological gulf separated him from his colleagues. There had been political factions before but now for the first time the two divergent attitudes toward government became so clear-cut that two political parties were the inevitable outcome. Jefferson assumed the leadership of the party of revolt against the Federalist domination that had developed during Washington’s administration and continued under that of John Adams. The issue reached a climax with the victory of the Jeffersonian Republicans in the presidential election of 1800 and Jefferson’s elevation to the presidency.
Defeat threw the Federalists into a panic. Already the civilized world was shaken to its depths by the events in France where the original respectable movement to suppress tyranny and substitute for it democratic institutions had degenerated into a reign of terror, culminating in the execution of the king and queen. And now the government of the United States, insecure at best, was about to be placed in the hands of a man who approved the French Revolution and in other ways had revealed his indifference to established institutions. As the Federalists saw it, in a few weeks the House of Representatives would be “Jacobin” while in a few years the Senate too would be in the hands of the radicals.
From the Federalist point of view one hope remained. Thus far not a single Republican tainted the national judiciary. In his message to the expiring Congress on December 3, 1800, President Adams urged its expansion. The message, incidentally, though bearing the signature of the President had been written by Secretary of State Marshall. The Federalist Congress, following the advice of the President, passed the bill which increased the number of district judges and created an entirely new system of circuit courts with three judges to each circuit. The Republicans, perhaps because they thought the Federalists would not have time to make use of the measure before leaving office, put up only a mild opposition. They reckoned without the fierce determination of the rival party to seize this last opportunity to curb the Republican President and Congress.
Meanwhile Marshall had been named Chief Justice, and until the Federalists went out of power he was to have the distinction of holding at one and the same time the offices of Chief Justice and Secretary of State. So it came about that far into the night on the eve of Jefferson’s inauguration President Adams nominated from his own party judges and other court officers created under the new law, the judges to hold their seats for life. As fast as he nominated them the Senate confirmed them. Then John Marshall, in his capacity as Secretary of State, signed and sealed the commissions of the Federalists who were to form the officers and rank and file of the judiciary army which he in his capacity as Chief Justice was to lead!
Marshall’s law practice and his political prejudices might throw him with the wealthy elements of Richmond society, but neither these nor his growing importance in the world relieved him of the common touch. His simplicity of manner, his carelessness about dress that bordered on slovenliness, his humor and good fellowship appealed to all classes. It was the custom in those days for the man of the household to do the marketing. Mr. Marshall was a familiar figure in the early morning at the market at 17th and Main streets where he bartered with the country folk who brought in their fresh vegetables, meats, and other supplies. His market basket filled, he would, like other gentlemen, stop in at the booth of Joseph Darmstadt, the Hessian, who kept boiling hot coffee on the stove to which customers were free to help themselves, and there gossip over the affairs of the day. Darmstadt had valuable connections with the Pennsylvania Dutch farmers who had drifted into the Valley of Virginia and brought choice provisions to market, making the long trip in Conestoga wagons. Or Mr. Marshall might be seen on horseback, a bag of clover resting on the pommel of his saddle, setting out for a farm he owned on the outskirts of the town.
Many of his political opponents—among them Patrick Henry and George Mason—held him in deep affection. The sad exception was Jefferson. With all his democratic principles, Jefferson was not a good mixer. He had an innate reserve that made ordinary men self-conscious in his company. When reports reached him that John Marshall was the most popular man in Richmond, he could not contain himself. Was not Marshall, by thus cultivating the good will of the masses, poaching on territory Jefferson regarded as peculiarly his own? In the autumn of 1795 he wrote to his friend Madison: “His lax lounging manners have made him popular with the bulk of the people in Richmond; and a profound hypocrisy with many thinking men of our own country. But having come forth in the plenitude of his English principles the latter will see to it that it is high time to make him known.” Anger did not help Jefferson’s clarity of expression but his meaning is obvious. Marshall, as Jefferson saw him, was a hypocrite.
Yet in spite of his dislike for Marshall, Jefferson was careful to observe the amenities. When Marshall returned from a mission to France in 1797, unsuccessful as the mission had been, he was given an ovation on his arrival in Philadelphia, then the seat of government, and a public dinner was arranged in his honor. Jefferson was in Philadelphia at the time and promptly called on Marshall. Not finding him at home he left a note expressing disappointment at not seeing him and regret that a previous engagement would prevent his attending the dinner. Marshall, not to be outdone in courtesy, sat down next day and penned a reply stating that “J. Marshall begs leave to accompany his respectful compliments to Mr. Jefferson with assurance of the regret he feels at being absent when Mr. Jefferson did him the honor to call on him. J. Marshall is extremely sensible of the obliging expression contained in the polite billet of yesterday.”