John Marshall?

Question

John Marshall was sent to france in the late 1790s to try to stop french raids on america shipping. Talleyrand tried to bribe Marshall and the other american representatives. Marshall also saw Napoleon emerging from the chaos of the french revolution. He feared this autocratic new leader. So how did this shape John Marshals political philosophy

Answer 1

Here is a (New York State?) Regents History notes page, with a set of questions -- yours is clearly one of them-- on how each of a series of events shape Marshall's political philosophy.

The Q & A for yours --

Q #6. John Marshall was sent to France in the late 1790s to try to stop French raids on American shipping. Talleyrand tried to bribe Marshall and the other American representatives. Marshall also saw Napoleon emerging from the chaos of the French Revolution. He reared this autocratic new leader.

A: 'The XYZ affair taught Marshall the value of having sufficient power to command the respect of foreign nations and the danger of a dictator'
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:dByhgDpGCawJ:teacherweb.com/NY/HamiltonCentralSchool/RichardHanson/Marshalldevelopment.doc+%22These+events+helped+Marshall+understand+that+a+government+must+be+able+to+raise+a+militia+to+maintain+order&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

One very odd thing about your QUESTION -- Talleyrand did NOT try to bribe the Americans. It was basically the other way round! Agents of Talleyrand ASKED for bribes from the Americans --to go TO Talleyrand. Marshall firmly refused them, which proved a major step in his rise to national prominence

As noted in the answer quoted above, this was the so-called X-Y-Z Affair. For more info about it, including how Marshall responded to it, here's a bit about the agents, and some twists most are unfamiliar with.

The three men who approached the three American commissioners to request a bribe (for Talleyrand), a large official loan from the United States, and an apology for certain references to France in a recent speech by Adams, before they could see Talleyrand, though "agents" acting in behalf of Talleyrand were NOT "French officials".

They were all bankers, and though the letters from the American envoys and Adams's report initially gave them the anonymous labels "X" "Y" and "Z", their identities were later divulged as:
X - Jean Conrad Hottinguer, Swiss
Y -Pierre Bellamy - American financier living in Hamburg
Z -Lucien Hauteval, Swiss

http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0425920-00&templatename=/article/article.html

But actually, something few realize is that there was a FOURTH agent -- a Nicholas Hubbard-- referred to as "W". He played a much smaller role and was only rarely mentioned. Hence "XYZ" is the term that stuck.
http://www.constitution.org/lrev/kentvirg_watkins.txt

"The" book on this is William Stinchcombe's 1980 book, , *The XYZ Affair*. Compare his article -- "The Diplomacy of the WXYZ Affair," William and Mary Quarterly (1977), 221-45.

Note that Stinchcombe is a university history professor [at Syracuse University] specializing in diplomatic history, and was an editor for the writings of JOHN MARSHALL.

Another work to check out for this and other questions on the events of Marshall's life that shaped his political (and judicial) philosophy -- which I assume you have or will soon get-- is Jean Edward Smith's excellent biography, *John Marshall : Definer of a Nation * (1996)

Answer 2

check this site out!