lived." And John Adams said that his gift of John Marshall to the United States was the proudest act of his life.

When Marshall, at the age of forty-five, was appointed Chief Justice, he had been engaged in the leading events of his time. His previous life was a training and preparation for the high office he then assumed. He was already distinguished as a patriot, lawyer, legislator, statesman, and diplomatist; and, soon after he became Chief Justice, his "Life of Washington" was published.

Born on September 24, 1755, in Germantown, Fauquier County, Virginia, his early youth was passed in a sparsely settled country thirty miles west, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. His father was a friend and companion of Washington; a colonel in the Revolutionary Army; a man of marked courage and energy, and well read in the English classics; and he was deeply interested in the education of his children.

In his youth Marshall was fond of out-door sports. He loved nature, and poetic longings filled his soul. He early showed a taste for literature, which he retained throughout his life. Two years' instruction in Latin comprised his education, except what was obtained at home.

When the storm of the Revolutionary War broke upon the Colonies, the youthful spirit of Marshall