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The Papers of John Marshall: Volume III

Correspondence and Papers, January 1796 —December 1798

William C. Stinchcombe, Diplomatic Editor
Charles T. Cullen, Editor

Published in 1979 by the University of North Carolina Press ISBN 0-8078-1337-0

The publication of this volume was assisted by grants from the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Robert G. III and Maud Morgan Cabell Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Jon Ben Snow Foundation, and the Windsor Foundation.

The three years covered in this volume represent a turning point in John Marshall's career as an attorney and as a public servant. Between January 1796, when he was just forty years old, and June 1797, when he left for France, he settled his dispute with the Commonwealth of Virginia over title to the Fairfax lands, continued to take an active role in the annual meetings of the House of Delegates, managed a growing volume of legal business, and strengthened his position as a principal defender of the Federalist administration. By September 1798, when he announced his candidacy for election to Congress, Marshall had completed the transition from state to national politics that established him as one of the leading members of the Federalist party.

Most of the documents in this volume pertain to Marshall's experience as one of the envoys to France in 1797. Papers dated between June 1797 and June 1798 are almost exclusively diplomatic. The editors have republished all of the envoys' dispatches from France, because Marshall had an active part in writing them. An important document in this volume is the journal Marshall kept while in Paris. This document has never appeared in print, although it is a major source of information for the mission.