Otwo & a half hour documentary JOHN MARSHALL, THE MAN WHO MADE THE SUPREME COURT is effectively eight separate films in one; the life story of the Great Chief Justice himself along with stories about seven of his pivotal cases. And because the cases have a life outside the documentary film, each required its own narrative while still working within the overall story of John Marshall’s life.

• Pulling together so many different story strands took our film crew across America for more than nine months.
• From today’s Supreme Court and US Senate to the Cherokee capital of Tahlequah, OK.
• From snow-covered Valley Forge to a tall ship sailing out into the Atlantic off the coast of New Hampshire
• From the French Quarter of New Orleans to a rebuilt James River flatboat in Virginia.
• From slave quarters in Savannah, GA, to a fire festival in Santa Fe, NM.

Along the way we recreated Aaron Burr’s treason trial with contemporary trial lawyers rearguing the case in front of today’s US 4th Circuit judge (Marshall’s old circuit). We brought together lawyers and historians to play Marshall’s favorite game of quoits (like horseshoes) on the exact spot where Marshall’s Quoits Club met throughout his lifetime. Where possible we sought out present-day events that give insights into Marshall’s life and times.

For on-camera host Richard Brookhiser (writer of the book on which the film is based), our filming required multiple flights, car drives, boat trips and horse-drawn carriage rides across different parts of the country to interview dozens of people – from a retired US Coast Guard Captain on the Mississippi River to many of America’s top legal scholars and historians and today’s Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

The end result is the first documentary film ever to illustrate John Marshall’s life and work, revealing the Great Chief Justice as one of America’s most important and influential Founding Fathers whose impact on America today is as great as it was in his own time.

Leo Eaton
Producer/Director

Produced in cooperation with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
MITCHELL REISS, President & CEO
COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG is a registered trademark of
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Special Thanks to

LEWIS  E. LEHRMAN

The United States Coast Guard
USCGC EAGLE
USCG Station Tybee Island, GA
USCG Motion Picture and Television Office

Supreme Court of the United States
Public Information Office
KATHY ARBERG
TYLER LOPEZ

Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello
Charlottesville, Virginia
JENNIFER A. LYON

The John Marshall House,
Richmond, VA, Owned by Preservation Virginia

Filming in the Old Supreme Court Chamber, US Capitol, Courtesy of US Senate Commission on Art
Office of Senate Curator
RICHARD DOERNER
SCOTT STRONG

Additional Special Thanks

Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, OK
JULIE HUBBARD

Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
ROBERT E. BONNER

Café Amelie, New Orleans, LA

The Federal Reserve System, Washington DC
ERIC KOLLIG

Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, Alexandria, VA
LIZ WILLIAMS

Gilder Lehrman Institute of
American History, New York, NY
SANDRA TRENHOLM

James River Bateau Festival, VA

National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA
BEN ROEBUCK

Oak Hill, Delaplane, VA
CHUCK CHAMBERLAIN

Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters,
Savannah, GA
SHANNON BROWNING-MULLIS

Precarious Beer Hall, Williamsburg, VA
ANDREW VOSS

Preservation Virginia, Richmond, VA

ELIZABETH S. KOSTELNY
JENNIFER HURST-WENDER

ROMAN MARTINEZ

Steamboat Natchez (New Orleans)
CAPT. CLARKE C. (DOC) HAWLEY

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, VA

ELIZABETH MANCANO
JAY BRAXTON
ALEX TIMBERLAKE

The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA
SUZANNE CLAVET
GERALD ‘JAY’ GAIDMORE

Yale Law School, New Haven, CT
JANET CONROY
ALDEN FERRO

A PRODUCTION OF

EATON CREATIVE, INC

A PRESENTATION OF

© 2020 Rediscovering John Marshall, LLC