On the other hand, the second statement in the dictionary, may be applied to the Constitution of the United States, which is a Document, a written instrument, framed and adopted for our protection by those able and noble Patriots who met in the Federal Convention, over which George Washington himself presided. They were wise men, learned in the Law, and far-sighted. They planned a Government for the great future of a very great Free People. Since its adoption, other Republics of the world have used our Constitution as a model for their own. Our Constitution guarantees self-government, and regulates just government. It is the foundation of our national life. Without it, we should be threatened with anarchy. Anarchy means universal confusion, terror, bloodshed, lawlessness of every description, and the destruction of religion, education, business, and of everything which makes life and home beautiful and safe. After we had declared our Independence and won our Liberty, this Country was threatened with anarchy because we had as yet no Constitution to regulate Government, and each State did much as it pleased. But after the Constitution was adopted, and the States were united and had became One People under One Government, order, peace, and prosperity resulted. Thus the amazingly rapid growth of “Our Beloved Country,” as Washington called it, is due to the safeguards of that most precious Document, the Constitution of the United States. For which reason every boy and girl should read it carefully, should regard it with reverence, and should surround it with every protection, as being, with the blessing of God, the source of the life and welfare of our Nation. As for John Marshall, he did not help to frame the Constitution; but it was largely through his efforts and those of James Madison, that the Virginia State Legislature ratified it. In another way, also, he had a great part in its making. After the Constitution was adopted, being a new Document there existed no body of judicial decisions interpreting its meanings, like the decisions of England which guided English judges. A body of American decisions had to be made to interpret our Constitution in order to guide American judges. This was John Marshall’s great work. In 1801, President John Adams called the profound lawyer, John Marshall, to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. It was a most wise appointment, as we shall now see. EXPOUNDING THE CONSTITUTION Chief Justice Marshall took his place at the head of the National Judiciary. The Government under the Constitution, was only organized twelve years before, and in the interval eleven amendments of the Constitution had been regularly proposed and adopted. Comparatively nothing had been done judicially to define the powers or develop the resources of the Constitution. In short, the Nation, the Constitution, and the Laws were in their infancy.