After the war of 1812, a surge of nationalism spread everywhere throughout America. Having unofficially won the war without even an official army, the people of America became very proud of themselves and how their great country established such a feat. The nationalism grew until John Marshall, an aggressive Chief Justice, further strengthened and expanded it. He was a devout Federalist appointed by John Adams years before his most famous case of Marbury vs. Madison in 1803. Being a Federalist he was a great rival to Thomas Jefferson. He served until 1835 and was the forth Supreme Court Justice.
His only legal schooling was six weeks attending lectures at the College of William and Mary, however when he took the bench in 1801, he changed the Judicial Branch as we know it. In fact, he made the branch the most powerful section of the government at that time.
His most significant early case was the famous Marbury v.
Madison in 1803, which established the right of the court to declare the actions of local, state or federal governments invalid if they violate the Constitution. This process of declaring actions void was called Judicial Review and it made the Court equally as powerful as the legislative and executive branches of government.
Another important case was Martin vs. Hunter's Lessee in 1816. The ruling by Marshall declared that the power of the Supreme Court extended to the State Courts. The court now had the right to directly review other courts decisions. Yet another case, Cohens vs. Virginia strengthened this right and extended the reach of the court all the way to the citizens of the U.S. and states. Marshall's court became more and more powerful until it got the right to review almost all lower court decisions.
The famous Fletcher vs. Peck...