Served in the Continental Army, later a commissioner to France negotiating Jay’s Treaty. As Secretary of State under Adams, he was embroiled in the XYZ Affair. He is most famous as a Supreme Court Chief Justice who handed down such landmark decisions as Marbury v. Madison, establishing the principle of judicial review, and McColloch v. Maryland, which allowed Congress to create a national bank. Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, serving from February 4, 1801 until his death in 1835. ALS signed “J. Marshall,” one page, 7.5 x 9.5, January 8, 1804. Marshall writes to Associate Justice William Paterson. In part: “Yesterday on my return from North Carolina I received your letter … & comment very sincerely the cause which will deprive us of your aid & your society at the ensuing term of the supreme court. I must however entreat that you will not permit your anxiety respecting your duties to expose you to the hazards which must result from your removal from home before your health shall be perfectly confirmed. I will immediately write to Mr. Moore [associate Justice Alfred Moore] & hope he will make a point of attending. He has sustained a very severe attack in the course of the summer, but I understand that he has perfectly recovered.” The integral leaf bears an address panel in Marshall’s hand to “The Honble William Paterson, New Brunswick, New Jersey,” as well as a Richmond postmark and a docket to right edge. Paterson was a New Jersey statesman, a signer of the United States Constitution, and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court by George Washington in 1793 and played a key role in all of the important decisions of the 1790s. In 1803 he suffered severe injuries while riding the circuit when a horse bolted and upset his carriage, but remained on the court until his death in 1806. Intersecting mailing folds, one vertical fold through a single letter of last name, a few holes below signature affecting nothing, slight vertical fold separations along bottom, and a barely noticeable repair to one vertical separation, otherwise fine condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
