Who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court that disagreed with Thomas Jefferson about many political issues?
The Chief Justice referred to in this question was John Marshall. Marshall was a Federalist, who believed in strengthening the powers of the federal government relative to the states. Jefferson, a Republican, believed in the opposite. Many of Marshall's decisions played a major role in consolidating the powers of the federal government. McCulloch v. Maryland(1819) ruled that Congress had the power, due to the Necessary and Proper Clause, to establish a national bank and...
The Chief Justice referred to in this question was John Marshall. Marshall was a Federalist, who believed in strengthening the powers of the federal government relative to the states. Jefferson, a Republican, believed in the opposite. Many of Marshall's decisions played a major role in consolidating the powers of the federal government. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) ruled that Congress had the power, due to the Necessary and Proper Clause, to establish a national bank and that the Supremacy Clause prevented the states from taxing it. This decision was anathema to both the strict constructionist and states' rights views held by many of Jefferson's political allies (and to some extent by Jefferson himself.) In many other decisions, like Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodard, Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, and Cohens v. Virginia, the Marshall Court continued to rule in ways that strengthened the national government. Ironically, the most famous decision associated with the Marshall Court, Marbury v. Madison (1803,) which established the principle of judicial review of Congressional laws, was a decision in favor of Jefferson, whose Secretary of State, James Madison, was the defendant in the case. Also, Marshall, who nurtured an intense personal dislike for Jefferson, was actually his cousin. Both men were part of the Virginia planter elite that dominated American politics for much of the early republic period.
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