Question

John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson were both Virginians; they were also distant relatives. How did they turn out to be so different?

Answer 1

An exemplary aristocrat who advocated democracy, Jefferson was never comfortable associating with the common man. Marshall, who distrusted democracy, never lost the common touch. Jefferson opposed an energetic central government as a danger to individual liberty; Marshall saw the government in Washington as the key­stone of national well-being. Jefferson identified with Virginia; Marshall, with the United States. Jefferson favored agriculture and advocated the virtues of rural life; Marshall, an avid farmer himself, was more attuned to the needs of commerce and indus­try…. In some respects the differences involved the classic tension between the man of ideas and the man of affairs. Jefferson was at his best when articulating a philosophy of government. Marshall, when applying one.