ABSTRACT
The appointment of John Marshall, in what must have seemed a deliberate defiance of the known sentiments of the party favoring William Paterson, led Jonathan Dayton to castigate the retiring President. According to Marshall, some suspected that Thomas Boylston Adams’s objections rested on his belief that Paterson was connected with the Hamiltonians who opposed the second attempt at negotiation with France. Federalist leaders may very likely have seen the advantages of approving the nomination before bringing the bill to the floor for debate for the same reasons that leaders in the House had desired that the appointment be made before that body voted on the bill. Thus Marshall, who had in 1798 refused an opportunity to become an associate judge to fill the vacancy left at James Wilson’s death, was started on the path in which he was to achieve enduring fame.
