And so the great Chief Justice, reconciling "the jealousy of freedom with the independ ence of the judiciary/' for a third of a century, pursued his stately way, establishing, in the accomplishment of the work given him to do, those sure and solid principles of govern ment on which our constitutional system rests. The nation has entered into his labors, and may well bear witness, as it does to-day, to the immortality of the fame of this "sweet and virtuous soul," whose powers were so admirable, and the results of their exercise of such transcendent consequence.1 The life of Marshall has been called the constitutional history of the country from 1801 to 1835. He set and fixed in its proper place the keystone of the beautiful and sym metrical arch of States which now spans a continent. He carried the Constitution through its experimental and formative stages, defined its enumerated powers, and clothed them with an authority and living force commensurate with their purpose. He "gradually unveiled the Constitution, in the words of Bryce, until "it stood revealed in the harmonious perfection of the form its framers had designed." From a national standpoint we are to-day what the Constitu tion, as expounded by John Marshall, has made us. The supremacy and character of the national government we owe largely to him. Marshall was more than the inter preter of the Constitution. He was the cre ator of constitutional law as applied to a writ ten Constitution. His luminous judgments determined whether the Constitution should stand or fall. They proved the Constitution created, in the words of Chief Justice Chase, "an indestructible union, composed of inde structible States." They demonstrated that a Federal Union, strong enough to perpetu ate itself, and supreme within its delegated powers, was not a menace to the independ ence of the States or to individual liberty, but 1 Honorable Melville W. Fuller, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
was the guardian and shield of both. They fixed the relative rights of the States and the Fed?ral government under the Consti tution, involving often the momentous ques tion of sovereignty — the fatal rock on which the Federal unions are broken into frag ments. They settled beyond challenge or debate the question of sovereignty as a judi cial question arising under the Constitution. The only right to dissolve the Union which remained with the States after these adjudi cations was the right of revolution. They established the novel and striking feature of our political system that the construction and interpretation of the supreme law rests with the judiciary department. They vindicated the supremacy of the Constitution over all citizens and all States. They proved beyond question that the Constitution created a gov ernment, a composite republic, a nation; not a league, a compact, or a mere confederacy. They undoubtedly preserved the Union in 1861 when the attempt was made to settle constitutional questions by force of arms. Had not the judgments of the Supreme Court, during the thirty-four years Marshall was Chief Justice, judicially established the supremacy of the Constitution as opposed to the doctrine of State sovereignty, the Civil War would have been a war of conquest and the Federal tie forever severed. "The South ern Confederacy, as the embodiment of po litical ideas," says Judge Phillips, "surren dered not to Grant, not to Sherman, not to Thomas or to Sheridan, but to the statesman, the jurist and the sage — John Marshall." The decisions of Marshall have taught us to worship the Constitution. They have built up the national spirit. They have not led to the consolidation of the States, but to the consolidation of national sentiment. They are the foundation of the patriotism, affec tion and pride which fills all our hearts as we look upon our country at the opening of a new century and contemplate with emotion the proud position she occupies among the nations of the earth. They have elevated our form of government in the eyes of the world,
