mark case of “Marbury v Madison” involved William Marbury and James Madison. After his defeat in 1800, then President Adams appointed as many federalist judges to the court system as possible, but the commissions were not delivered. Mr. Marbury was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the District of Columbia; James Madison tried to use his power as Secretary of State to shelve Mr. Marbury’s commission. Mr. Marbury sued in the Supreme Court for the delivery of the commission and based his appeal on the Judiciary Act of 1789. However, Chief Justice Marshall dismissed the suit, explaining that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional because it attempted to assign powers to the Supreme Court that the Constitution had not foreseen. He adamantly asserted his opinion that the Constitution embodied a higher law than regular legislation. Chief Justice Marshall stated that “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is…” His decision greatly increased the authority of the Supreme Court; the Court now had the final say-so in the interpretation of the Constitution and to determine the constitutionality of a law.Just a few months later, in May 1804, Jefferson completed one of the largest land transactions in history. He purchased the entire Louisiana Territory, consisting of more than 800,000 square miles, from Napoleon for $15 millions dollars. The United States government paid $11,250,000 directly to the French government and the United States government assuming French debts to U.S. citizens covered the balance of $3,750,000. This purchase was the result of serious concerns for free trade and navigation along the Mississippi River. In 1800, Spain and France entered into a secret pact in which Spain ceded New Orleans and the territory to France. The United States government was afraid that it would have to go to war with France to acquire control of the ...
