Lesson Plan

"The Great Chief Justice" at Home

John Marshall House
Grade Level:
Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
Subject:
Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
Lesson Duration:
90 Minutes
Common Core Standards:
6-8.RH.1, 6-8.RH.2, 6-8.RH.3, 6-8.RH.4, 6-8.RH.5, 6-8.RH.6, 6-8.RH.7, 6-8.RH.8, 6-8.RH.9, 6-8.RH.10, 9-10.RH.1, 9-10.RH.2, 9-10.RH.3, 9-10.RH.4, 9-10.RH.5, 9-10.RH.6, 9-10.RH.7, 9-10.RH.8, 9-10.RH.9, 9-10.RH.10, 11-12.RH.1, 11-12.RH.2, 11-12.RH.3, 11-12.RH.4, 11-12.RH.5, 11-12.RH.6, 11-12.RH.7, 11-12.RH.8, 11-12.RH.9, 11-12.RH.10
Additional Standards:
US History Era 3 Standard 3C: The student understands the development of the Supreme Court's power and its significance from 1789 to 1820.
Curriculum Standards for Social Studies from the National Council for the Social Studies.
Thinking Skills:
Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.

Essential Question

What marks a space as private or public?

Objective

1. To describe the Marshall family's way of life and their house;
2. To identify the civic virtues and personal values that motivated Marshall to make public and private decisions;
3. To examine how the public and private sides of Marshall's life were integrated;
4. To identify and explain Marshall's core principles of constitutional government in his career as chief justice of the Supreme Court;
5. To investigate historic sites that commemorate notable deeds and people in their communities.

Preparation

John Marshall led the Supreme Court of the United States from obscurity and weakness to prominence and power during his 34 years in office, from 1801 to 1835. More than half his time as chief justice was spent at home in Richmond, Virginia. Marshall’s public duties in Washington, D.C., and on circuit in Virginia and North Carolina, consumed an average of less than six months a year. So he was often with family and friends at his two-and-a-half-story brick house, built between 1788 and 1790. Located at the corner of Ninth and Marshall Streets in downtown Richmond, this house stands as a permanent memorial to the Marshall family. No other site, not even the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., is so closely connected to "The Great Chief Justice."

John Marshall’s public and private roles were intertwined at home. He developed legal opinions, wrote public papers, and greeted famous guests at this place, where he also was a father, husband, and household manager. Today visitors to the John Marshall House can see evidence of both the public and private parts of his life at home. A striking symbol of his public life--a large judicial robe once worn by Marshall as chief justice--is displayed in the visitors’ Orientation Room, as is a small locket that was worn by Marshall’s wife, Mary Willis Ambler, whom he called "my dearest Polly." These two objects represent the public and private domains of a great man’s life, his career and family.

Lesson Hook/Preview

During the eight-year administration of President George Washington (1789-1797), rival political parties formed to contest the policies and development of the federal government launched under the Constitution of the United States. One party, the Democratic-Republicans, was led by Thomas Jefferson. The other party, the Federalists, was led by Alexander Hamilton.

The Jeffersonian Republicans, as they often were called, stood for a strict construction or interpretation of the Constitution, which would limit the federal government to the powers specifically granted to it. They tended to oppose expansion of federal government power at the expense of the powers and rights of the state governments. By contrast the Federalist party of Hamilton favored a loose or broad construction of the Constitution, which would allow the expansion of federal government power to meet important needs of national scope.

John Marshall, a successful lawyer and local political leader in Virginia, was a staunch supporter of the new federal government. In 1801 he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court by the outgoing Federalist president, John Adams. During Marshall’s 34 years as chief justice, he transformed the Supreme Court into a powerful and revered institution. He wrote and presided over many Supreme Court decisions that used broad interpretation of the Constitution to support the federal government’s power in its relationship to the states of the federal union. Some of the Marshall Court’s decisions infuriated his cousin Thomas Jefferson, who served as president of the United States from 1801-1809.

Procedure

Getting Started Prompt
Map: Orients the students and encourages them to think about how place affects culture and society
Readings: Primary and secondary source readings provide content and spark critical analysis.
Visual Evidence: Students critique and analyze visual evidence to tackle questions and support their own theories about the subject.
Optional post-lesson activities: If time allows, these will deepen your students' engagement with the topics and themes introduced in the lesson, and to help them develop essential skills.

Vocabulary

chief justice
Federalist party
Democratic-Rebublican party
Jeffersonian Republicans

Additional Resources

Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA)
The John Marshall House is owned and preserved by the APVA, which operates the historic site as a museum. Visit the Preservation Virginia website for a description of the site and a short biography on John Marshall. Also explore their Web page for information on other APVA properties and for information about their mission as a preservation organization.


The Papers of John Marshall
The Papers of John Marshall is a multivolume project sponsored by The College of William and Mary in Virginia and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. This is the first edition of the correspondence and papers of John Marshall (1755-1835), the statesman and jurist who served as chief justice of the United States, 1801-1835.


National Register of Historic Places: Oak Hill
The "Journey Through Hallowed Ground" travel itinerary, created by the National Register of Historic Places with state and local partners, features a description and several photographs of Oak Hill, an earlier home of John Marshall.

The National Register of Historic Places online itinerary Richmond showcases various historic sites throughout the city’s past.


Library of Congress
Search the Library of Congress digital collections for a variety of historical resources on John Marshall. Included on the Web site are historic photographs of John Marshall and his homes, as well as correspondence regarding several of his cases. For more information, search on related terms such as U.S. Supreme Court, constitution, or the cases mentioned in the lesson such as Dartmouth College v. Virginia.


National Constitution Center:
Constitution Basics & The Constitution in our History

Visit the National Constitution Center website to better understand the U.S. Constitution and how it relates to our nation's history and understand the functions and duties of the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court justices.


Federal Judicial Center
The History of the Federal Judiciary portion of the Federal Judicial Center’s website presents basic reference information about the history of the federal courts and the judges who have served on the federal courts since 1789, including John Marshall.


U.S. Supreme Court
Visit the U.S. Supreme Court website for an overview of the Supreme Court and its constitutional interpretation, traditions, procedures, and members.

Contact Information

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Last updated: March 10, 2020