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PREFACE.

An eminent philosophic historian and statesman, whose lamented death occurred while this volume was passing through the press, has the following pregnant observations which are distinctly applicable to our Constitution, to our national experience, and to the permanent and increasing value of Chief Justice Marshall's constitutional labors. "An appetite for organic change," says Lecky,' "is one of the worst diseases that can affect a nation. All real progress, all sound national development, must grow out of a stable, persistent national character, deeply influenced by custom and precedent and old traditional reverence, habitually aiming at the removal of practical evils and the attainment of practical advantages, rather than speculative change. Institutions, like trees, can never attain their maturity or produce their proper fruits if their roots are perpetually tampered with. In no single point is the American Constitution more incontestably superior to our own than in the provisions by which it has so effectually barred the path of organic change that the appetite for such change has almost passed away."

1 Democracy and Liberty, I, 153, 154.

The Constitution of the United States is the only political bond of union of the American Republic. John Marshall is the master-builder of the Constitution. By universal consent his work in this respect stands unrivaled and supreme. Conclusive proof of this, if proof were necessary, is found in the Centennial Celebration throughout the United States in 1901 of Marshall's appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The record of this unique and extraordinary event is comprised in three commemorative volumes1 which are referred to throughout the following work as the "Marshall Memorial."

The present volume contains in full every decision on constitutional points of Chief Justice Marshall. With the additions of the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Amendments, which grew out of the Civil War of 1861-1865, the Constitution of to-day is the Constitution of Marshall's time, and it means to-day just what Marshall's decisions authoritatively declared and established it to mean. The settled judgment of the world is that this Constitution is the most remarkable political document ever fashioned by the mind of man. No thorough knowledge of it is possible without a careful study of

1 John Marshall, Life, Character and Judicial Services, as Portrayed in the Centenary and Memorial Addresses and Proceedings throughout the United States on Marshall Day, 1901, and in the classic orations of Binney, Story, Phelps, Waite and Rawle. Compiled and Edited with an Introduction by John F. Dillon. Illustrated with Portraits and Fac-simile; in Three Volumes, 1903.

Marshall's decisions. This may seem to be a strong expression, but it is absolutely true. To all persons, therefore, lay or professional, who feel an interest in the science of law, of jurisprudence or of government, and in the workings of republican institutions for over a century on a theater of more than imperial extent and grandeur and on the largest scale ever exhibited to mankind, the opinions here published have an intrinsic importance distinctively and exclusively their own.

Of few works can it truly be affirmed that they are equally adapted to popular and professional use. But this is undeniably true of Chief Justice Marshall's constitutional judgments. Many of the greatest and most luminous of his constitutional opinions contain scarcely a reference to adjudged cases or to the authority of precedents, for there were none, and the conclusions reached do not depend upon technical learning or discussions. They may be fully understood by any intelligent person. As Dr. Johnson would have phrased it, each decision is a colossus hewn from a rock, not figures carved on cherry stones; and on reading these opinions one has the satisfaction of seeing each successive stroke of the Titan which gradually evolved the massive and original work that he beholds.

In order that the volume may be more useful, a statement of the exact points decided has been prefixed to each case. Mr. Justice Curtis, one of the ablest judges

who ever held a place on the Supreme Bench of the United States, edited the Decisions of the Supreme Court. He appreciated the vital distinction between the points decided by the court and the arguments in support of the decision, and he embodied the points decided in headnotes, which are remarkable for their accuracy and conciseness and which have the added value of containing just what this learned and careful judge regarded as the precise propositions actually determined by the court. Mr. Justice Curtis's head-notes have, by the courtesy of Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., been adopted by the Editor, and they appear at the head of each of the Supreme Court opinions here published. To insure accuracy these opinions have been carefully compared with the original official reports.

It so happens that nearly every one of the great cases decided by Chief Justice Marshall has an interesting contemporaneous and subsequent history of its own, which forms an appropriate background and setting to the case. In the light of this history the opinion of the Chief Justice will be better understood and read with greater interest. This history together with such observations historical, general or critical as seemed proper precedes each case. The annotations at the foot of each opinion indicate how far the case itself has been subsequently referred to or applied; and thus this volume is intended to exhibit the present state of Constitutional Law on all

the great and essential provisions of the Constitution which were dealt with by Chief Justice Marshall.

Marshall's constitutional labors were the subject of orations and addresses on Marshall Day at the National Capital and in thirty-seven States and Territories, in which the opinions of Marshall are examined and reviewed by eminent judges, lawyers, statesmen and scholars. The present is therefore a companion volume to the "Marshall Memorial;" and among other features of interest or convenience it contains in the notes references to the "Marshall Memorial" in which will be found whatever was said on Marshall Day concerning the constitutional opinions of the great Chief Justice.

The Editor desires to express his obligation to the Honorable John F. Dillon, who edited the Marshall Memorial Volumes, for the prefatory notes to the opinions here given; for the other notes and editorial work the present Editor is responsible. He also gratefully acknowledges valuable assistance from his friend Mr. George S. Clay in the preparation and issue of this volume.

New York, December, 1903.

J. M. D.

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