Private man; public official

EDITORS: Photo available on request.

ANN ARBOR—The year 2001 marks the 200th anniversary of John Marshall‘s appointment as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. An attorney, state legislator, and member of the country’s highest court, Marshall was a very private person. But in 1827 he was prevailed upon by his close friend, Associate Justice Joseph Story, to write an account of his life and career up to the time of the appointment.

The University of Michigan’s Clements Library owns the original manuscript.

In conjunction with an exhibit on Marshall mounted by the U.S. Supreme Court that includes photographic reproductions of portions of this manuscript, the Clements and the Court have partnered in publishing a pamphlet edition of Marshall’s autobiography. The resulting “The Events of My Life: An Autobiographical Sketch by John Marshall” has an introduction by William H. Rehnquist, chief justice of the Supreme Court, and was edited by Lee C. Bollinger, U-M president, and John C. Dann, director, Clements Library.

“The Founding Fathers come down to us as such distant people,” says Dann, “and a record such as this, where Marshall describes in his own words his actions, ambitions, and motivations, allows us to appreciate that these were living human beings, no different from ourselves.”

Copies of the Marshall pamphlet are available from the Supreme Court Gift Shop, which can be reached at 1 First Street, NE; Washington, D.C. 20543 or at (888) 539-4438. The cost is $4.95 plus shipping and handling.

For more information about the past and present Court and its justices, visit http://www.supremecourtus.gov/.

John MarshallClements LibraryWilliam H. Rehnquisthttp://www.supremecourtus.gov/