Our Mission & Vision

The John Marshall Center preserves and honors the founding legacy of John Marshall by engaging and educating learners of all ages about our constitutional history, the rule of law, and civics – inspiring them toward a more perfect union. We envision “… a Constitution intended to endure,” a constitutional education for all.

We Believe

• An independent and impartial judiciary is John Marshall’s most important institutional legacy. We must help it endure.
• The rule of law under the U.S. Constitution is an intergenerational achievement that requires continuous cultivation.
• Education and honest exchange about the past will help us create a better today and tomorrow.
• Our American system of self-government relies on engaged citizenship, and engaged citizenship relies on an understanding of and participation in the responsibilities and rights embedded in the Constitution.

Our History

JMC was founded in 1987 and is now located at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond, where John Marshall served as its first president in 1831. JMC is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that explores the crossroads of our Constitution, our classrooms, and our courts, beginning with the life and legacy of John Marshall.

As Chief Justice leading the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, Marshall made the judiciary a full and equal branch of the federal government, joining Washington, his mentor, and Jefferson, his ideological rival, in the rank of America’s founders. He fought for American independence under General Washington in the Revolutionary War, argued for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788, and is the only founder to have served in all three branches of the federal government. Marshall is the principal architect of U.S. constitutional law, a legacy that endures today.

We invite you to join us at the Center! Read our digital brochure for a quick overview of our public history programs and partnerships, our civics education program, Justice in the Classroom, our new civics series, PopCiv, our impact, and ways to get involved.