John Marshall (1755–1835) was born in Virginia, far from the wealthy tobacco and slave Tidewater region of the state. During the Revolution, he led a company of riflemen and spent the terrible winter of 1777 at Valley Forge. Out of his Revolutionary War experiences, Marshall became a staunch nationalist who distrusted state governments, which, he believed, had failed to support the soldiers. When Marshall became the nation’s fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1801, the Court lacked prestige and public...