Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks.

John Marshall: Definer of a Nation

"The Supreme Court had already convened for its February term; Marshall had presented his commission as chief justice and had taken his oath of office. He was forty-five years old. For the next thirty-five years he would preside as the Chief Justice of the United States. 'He hit the Constitution much as the Lord hit the chaos at a time when everything needed creating,' wrote one observer. President James A. Garfield said, 'Marshall found the Constitution paper and made it power. He found a skeleton and clothed it with flesh and blood.' The prickly John Randolph of Roanoke noted that Marshall's 'real worth was never known until he was appointed Chief Justice.'

To Marshall, more than any other person, belongs the credit for establishing the foundation of the constitutional interpretation." - Jean Edward Smith

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

The More Things Change

From the book John Marshall: Definer of a Nation by Jean Edward Smith:

On the surface, the Federalists appeared to be in good shape in 1799. They held the presidency and both houses of Congress, and their majority in the House of Representatives had increased from six to twenty... In reality, however, the party was badly split between the High Federalists, mainly from north of the Delaware, and the moderates from the south. The High Federalists despised [John] Adams while the moderates were steadfast in their support of the president.

Today the Republicans have Donald Trump as President and hold both houses of Congress. But the party is split between "classical" Republicans and MAGA Trump supporters. I just hope the Republican Party doesn't go the same way as the Federalsts.

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

John Marshall

"Marshall's political views crystalized by this time. His pragmatic nature resisted the adoption of a large number of a priori principles, but on four issues his views were firm. He believed in a strong central government, the supremacy of the constitution, the necessity for an independent judiciary, and the inalienable right to possess, enjoy, and augment private property. Marshall's views were consistent with the major current  of eighteenth-century American thought. Locke, Blackstone, Hume, and Montesquieu - the writers most cited in postcolonial America  - stressed that the purpose of government was to protect private rights, especially the right to property, and that the tyranny of the majority was as much to be feared as the tyranny of the crown." - John Marshall by Jean Edward Smith

This brings up two excellent question. What is the purpose of a government? We've become so used to just having one we've lost the meaning of their purpose. Second, how does the inalienable right to property jive with the government coercing the de-banking of an individual?

John Marshall

There's no debating that the election of 1800 was an important event in American history. The sitting president, John Adams, a Federalist was defeated by Thomas Jefferson a Republican who both believed in majority rule and the support of France against England even in the wake of the horrors of the French Revolution. The Federalist party was divided between the wing of John Adams who believed America should remain neutral just as George Washington had advised and Alexander Hamilton who was advocating on the side of the British.

With the passing of George Washington - the death knell of the Federalist Party was sounded. John Marshall was the last Federalist giant standing serving as Chief Justice through the administrations of five presidents. When Washington died Mount Vernon requested that Marshall give the official eulogy of the founder of the nation.

"When the capitol moved from Philadelphia to Washington in June, Adams departed to spend the summer in Massachusetts and left Marshall in charge. From July through October 1800. Marshall was America's de facto chief executive."

Just getting into it but John Marshall was one interesting guy. His touchstones were simple - he loved George Washington and America.

John Marshall: Definer of a Nation

"...if American law were to be represented by a single figure, sceptic and worshipper alike would agree that the figure could be one alone, and that one, John Marshall." - Oliver Wendell Homes

"Marshall's preeminence was due to the fact that he was John Marshall." - Charles Evans Hughes

"John Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. Appointed by President [John] Adams during the waning days of his term in 1801. Marshall served as chief justice for thirty-five years. Hs tenure spanned the terms of five presidents...

...If George Washington founded the country, John Marshall defined it." - Jean Edward Smith

"A list of Marshall's great decisions reads like the ABC's of American constitutional law. Judicial review - the authority of the Supreme Court to declare acts of Congress and the executive unconstitutional - traces to his landmark opinion in Marbury v Madison. The implied power of the national government evolved from the decision in McCullough v Maryland. In the leading cases of Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and Cohen v. Virginia, the Marshall court established its jurisdiction over state courts when federal issue was at stake." - Jean Edward Smith

Had this book on my shelf for a long time and finally felt the time was right to dive in. Liking it very much and quite honestly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge about John Marshall. I'll let one of his biographers, Albert Beveridge have the final word for now:

"Such exalted encomium has been paid him, that... a kind of mythical being, endowed with virtues and wisdom not of this earth. He appears to us as a gigantic figure looming , indistinctly, out of the mists of the past,"

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Happy 278th Birthday to Chief Justice John Marshall

This list has been in my stack of books to read for a while now but I feel I may need to now put it on top. 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So Sammy Sosa hit his 600th home run. Big deal. Are baseball fans supposed to do cartwheels for him? Did one of Sosa's teams ever actually win anything? For a guy who found "ways" to hit a HR every 15 AB during the regular season in his career - Sosa managed only 2 HR in 53 AB in the post-season (maybe he was coming off his cycles?). Sosa made over $123 million playing baseball. Baseball fans don't owe him anything - especially a place in the Hall of Fame when players like Andre Dawson and Jim Rice aren't in because the inflated stats of steroids guys devalued their real accomplishments... Today for some reason I actually was wondering, "Whatever happened to Kevin Pittsnogle?" You would think a 6'11" guy who can hit three-pointers could make it as the 11th man for some team... This recommendation has put the book John Marshall: Definer of a Nation on my must read list...