American Minute with Bill Federer

September 24

"The power to tax is the power to destroy," wrote John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who was born SEPTEMBER 24, 1755.

No one had a greater impact on Constitutional Law than John Marshall.

Sworn in February 4, 1801, Marshall served 34 years and helped write over 1,000 decisions, including supporting the Cherokee Indian nation to stay in Georgia.

During the Revolution, John Marshall fought under Washington and endured the freezing winter at Valley Forge.

The Liberty Bell, according to tradition, cracked tolling at Marshall's funeral, July 8, 1835.

Chief Justice John Marshall wrote to Jasper Adams, May 9, 1833:

"The American population is entirely Christian, and with us Christianity and Religion are identified.

It would be strange indeed, if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and exhibit relations with it."

A hundred years after John Marshall's death, the Supreme Court Building was completed in 1935.

Herman A. MacNeil's marble relief above the east portico prominently features Moses in the center with two stone tablets.

Adolph A. Weinman's marble frieze on the south wall includes Moses holding Hebrew tablets.

Every Supreme Court session opens with the invocation:

"God save the United States and this Honorable Court."