Marshall, The Life of George Washington, 1804

The Life of George Washington, Commander in…
John Marshall (1755-1835)
Philadelphia: Printed and published by C.P. Wayne, 1804-07
First edition
E312 M33 1-5

Shortly after John Marshall became Chief Justice he was asked by George Washington’s nephew to write the first President’s official biography. As a personal friend of Washington, it was Marshall who announced the death of the President in 1799, offered the eulogy, chaired the committee that arranged the funeral rites, and led the commission to plan a monument in the capital city. Marshall wrote this biography using records and papers provided him by the President’s family. The seminal work was written as the Chief Justice was beginning the enormous task of constructing the judicial review and the American system of constitutional law. Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of Washington, introduced to the public through the engraved frontispiece of this work, was produced by Philadelphia stipple-engraver David Edwin. The second edition of this five volume work was issued within one year of the first.