Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times

by Joel Richard Paul

Overview

From the author of Unlikely Allies and Indivisible comes the remarkable story of John Marshall who, as chief justice, statesman, and diplomat, played a pivotal role in the founding of the United States.
 
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 center 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 rivaled his cousin Thomas Jefferson in influence. As a diplomat and secretary of state, he defended American sovereignty against France and Britain, counseled 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525533283
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/19/2019
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	491,152
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Joel Richard Paul is a professor of constitutional and international law at the University of California Hastings Law School in San Francisco. He is the author of Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright and a Spy Saved the American Revolution, which was named one of the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post. He lives in northern California.

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 The Frontier Soldier 5

2 A Revolutionary Capital 20

3 Debating the Constitution 35

4 Slaves and Hypocrites 45

5 Innocence Lost 54

6 Citizen Genet 71

7 Entangling Alliances 87

8 Jay's Treaty 96

9 Talleyrand 114

10 Not a Sixpence 124

11 Love and War 133

12 Tossed into the Seine 147

13 The XYZ Papers 169

14 The Jonathan Robbins Affair 182

15 Privateers and Pirates 195

16 The New Order of Things 215

17 Showdown 231

18 A Strategic Retreat 243

19 Prizes of War 262

20 High Crimes 275

21 Treason 282

22 Estrangement 297

23 The Meaning of Sovereignty 306

24 Washington Burning 315

25 Friends and Enemies 326

26 The Supreme Law 339

27 The Pirate Lottery 348

28 The Great Steamboat Case 364

29 Public and Private 373

30 Right Remains with the Strongest 384

31 An Extravagant Pretense 396

32 In the Conqueror's Court 407

33 A Union Prolonged by Miracles 426

Acknowledgments 441

Notes 443

Selected Bibliography 477

Index 489

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Without Precedent:
 
“[Paul] has crafted a scholarly but highly readable and often entertaining chronicle that embeds Marshall among the leading lights of the nation’s founding generation, humanizing him along the way... [Marshall] is justly celebrated as the most far-sighted justice ever to lead the Supreme Court. His lasting achievements are ably served by Mr. Paul’s deeply felt and penetrating biography.” —Wall Street Journal

“Law professor Joel Richard Paul brings exactly the kind of perspective that a legal scholar can best provide to this engaging biography of US Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.” —Christian Science Monitor

“Engrossing... Paul brings to life Marshall’s seminal cases.” ­—The Weekly Standard

“[Paul] has added a well-written and admiring biography to the long line of Marshall scholarship.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Compelling... Paul’s narrative excels when providing background details and the political context of Marshall’s famous decisions. Unlike many previous Marshall biographies, this book properly focuses on the practical circumstances that form the ground of Marshall’s decision-making.” —National Review

“[Paul] compellingly details the path that brought Marshall to the Supreme Court and how he was able to achieve so much while there in the absorbing and aptly titled Without Precedent... This engrossing account of a key figure in our early history makes for excellent reading.” —BookPage

“[A] comprehensive and insightful biography... Paul has produced an excellent treatment of an unquestionably impressive life.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A well-informed, perceptive, and absorbing biography of a titan of American history.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review


“This historical account of the longest-serving Chief Justice in the court’s history provides in-depth insight into the early days of the Supreme Court and Marshall’s lasting influence.” —Above The Law

“Paul offers an impressive biography on John Marshall, a politician and judge who became known as the nation's most powerful Supreme Court justice during his run in the 1800s.” —Houston Chronicle
“In his engrossing biography of John Marshall, the fourth chief justice of the United States, Paul... makes a compelling case for Marshall’s enduring impact on the Constitution. With the verve that distinguished his previous book, [Unlikely Allies,]... Paul deftly evokes Marshall as a leader who imagined a dynamic interpretation of the Constitution.” —The National Book Review

“This very human story should be of great interest to almost all readers. Well written and drawing on rich primary sources, Without Precedent lives up to its title and will be an excellent addition to American-history collections.” —Booklist

“This masterly work elucidates the indelible imprint that Marshall made on the U.S. Constitution and its subsequent interpretation.” —Library Journal

“An examination of the life and work of John Marshall masterfully put into the context of his times. The echoes of his decisions as chief justice still reverberate in our era.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Joel Richard Paul capably draws the reader into the factual and legal complexities involved in dozens of court cases without resorting to legalese… This comprehensive and insightful biography is mostly homage to this often-overlooked founder of our nation. But Paul does not ignore Marshall’s ‘blind spots’, his occasional faulty reasoning or compromised ethics. As a biographer, Paul exceptionally balances Marshall’s character development with his historic achievements in a very human story.” —The Missourian

“Paul capably frames the facts and the importance of the issues, as well as Marshall's big picture thinking about the outcome. … This biography lives up to its title in that it provides the reader with a clear picture of who John Marshall was, how he grew as a leader and as a jurist, in a time when his nation was going through some growing pains of its own.” —Potus Geeks

“A highly entertaining and educational biography that should be on a lawyer’s reading list.” —Iowa Lawyer Magazine

“Anyone interested in the law and our country’s Founders will find this book revealing and enjoyable.” —Jill Abramson, former Executive Editor of The New York Times and co-author of Strange Justice
 
“You don't have to be a constitutional law scholar to enjoy this lively, wonderfully engaging account of the life and times of Chief Justice John Marshall.” —William Taubman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev: The Man and his Era and Gorbachev: His Life and Times

"Joel Richard Paul has written a fascinating and deeply authoritative biography of one of the most overlooked but important members of the founding generation. John Marshall was a lawyer, justice, and statesman, who as much as anyone else helped shape the nation's court system and left a lasting imprint on our legal principles—and much more. Here, in Without Precedent, Marshall gets the attention he so justly deserves." —Jay Winik, author of The Great Upheaval and 1944
 
“I would have predicted that there was nothing worth saying about John Marshall that hadn’t already been said. I would’ve been so wrong. In every chapter of this page-turning account of Marshall’s pivotal place in our nation’s history, even the expert will learn something new. How did Joel Paul figure out, for instance, that the great Chief Justice probably suborned perjury on his brother’s part during the bizarre Marbury v. Madison trial? You owe it to yourself to read Joel Paul’s terrific book to find out.” —Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School

“Who was John Marshall, really? Thousands meet him anew each year solely through his published opinions. But finally, Joel Richard Paul gives us this captivating, indispensable account, painting a fascinating picture of the frontiersman, soldier, illusionist, strategist, diplomat and international lawyer who became not just the man behind Marbury, but so much more.” —Harold Hongju Koh, Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale Law School

“Joel Richard Paul offers an engaging study of Marshall, both the man and the jurist... Anyone interested in the American founding and the man who, perhaps more than any other, guided the republic through its most formative years, will appreciate this book.” —Law360

From the Publisher

★ 12/18/2017
In this comprehensive and insightful biography, Paul (Unlikely Allies), professor of constitutional and international law at UC-Hastings Law School, asserts that John Marshall (1755–1835), the fourth chief justice of the U.S., did more than anyone to “preserve the delicate unity of the fledgling republic.” While clearly a fan of his subject, Paul questions Marshall’s behavior, particularly his approach to slavery before and after he assumed the bench. Born of humble Virginia frontier origins, Marshall’s formal education was limited to a year of grammar school and six weeks of law school. Prior to his time on the high court, Marshall served under Washington at Valley Forge and was briefly a Virginia state representative before becoming secretary of state under John Adams. Marshall’s most famous decision during his record 34-year tenure as chief justice was Marbury v. Madison, which established the fundamental principle that courts had the authority to assess the constitutionality of a law. Positing that the decision was based on perjured testimony by Marshall’s brother James and that “the chief justice not only knew this but probably asked him to lie,” Paul explains and contextualizes the shocking ethical breach. Paul has produced an excellent treatment of an unquestionably impressive life. Agent: Roger S. Williams, Roger Williams Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Narrator Fred Sanders recounts the life of Chief Justice John Marshall from his humble origins to his service in the Revolutionary War. Over the years, he served as a legislator, a diplomat, and a true champion of the Supreme Court as an institution. Sanders’s narration highlights the intelligence and charisma of the judge, a federalist stalwart who had the remarkable ability to inspire his philosophical opposites to overwhelmingly agree with his judicial rulings. Marshall is often contrasted with his political foe, Thomas Jefferson; here, author Joel Richard Paul eloquently gives the towering figure of American jurisprudence his due. As this audiobook documents his protean achievements as Chief Justice, it becomes clear that his length of service, history-making rulings, and influence on the court remain unparalleled. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

Narrator Fred Sanders recounts the life of Chief Justice John Marshall from his humble origins to his service in the Revolutionary War. Over the years, he served as a legislator, a diplomat, and a true champion of the Supreme Court as an institution. Sanders’s narration highlights the intelligence and charisma of the judge, a federalist stalwart who had the remarkable ability to inspire his philosophical opposites to overwhelmingly agree with his judicial rulings. Marshall is often contrasted with his political foe, Thomas Jefferson; here, author Joel Richard Paul eloquently gives the towering figure of American jurisprudence his due. As this audiobook documents his protean achievements as Chief Justice, it becomes clear that his length of service, history-making rulings, and influence on the court remain unparalleled. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

★ 2017-11-28
A biography of the fourth and greatest chief justice of the United States.John Marshall (1755-1835) was no patrician. The eldest of 15 children born to an impoverished Virginia farmer, he had only a few months of formal education but served as a foot soldier at Valley Forge, a commissioner to France during the XYZ Affair, secretary of state to John Adams, and finally chief justice, a post to which Adams appointed him to resist the partisans of incoming president Thomas Jefferson. As Paul (Constitutional and International Law/Univ. of California Hastings Law School; Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution, 2008) notes, Marshall took over a court that "was regarded as nothing more than a constitutional afterthought [with]…few cases, little dignity, and no genuine authority." He bolstered the court's prestige by inventing the majority decision and produced more than 1,000 unanimous decisions during his tenure, a testimony to his skills of persuasion and compromise. Often employing a form of political judo, Marshall expanded the authority of his court and the central government by establishing fundamental constitutional principles like judicial review, taken for granted today but hotly contested in that era, to the impotent rage of his partisan opponents. In his conduct of the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr, Marshall infuriated Jefferson but arguably "did more to secure free expression and prevent tyranny than any other court in our history." Much of the story necessarily focuses on abstruse issues in constitutional law, but the author turns this potential narrative problem into a strength by emphasizing the politics and personal stories underlying the court's landmark cases. He cheerfully draws readers into the factual and legal complexities involved, employing an easygoing prose style that neither condescends nor bogs down in legalese. As much as Paul admires Marshall, he doesn't shrink from exposing holes in his reasoning, occasional ethically dodgy procedure, and a sometimes dismayingly amoral approach to the law.A well-informed, perceptive, and absorbing biography of a titan of American history.

Kirkus Reviews