earliest youth, and served under him in the Revolution.

If it be true that it takes a great man to interpret the life of a
great man then Bushrod Washington made no mistake in the selection of
a biographer. For Marshall, under the influence of Washington, came to
be nearly as great a man as the character whose life and achievements
held his deepest thought for nearly a quarter of a century. Certainly
his services to his country rank close to Washington's. Marshall's
sympathetic understanding of his subject, his first-hand knowledge of
events with his remarkable powers of expression qualified him to
produce the masterpiece that has come down to us.

Seven years were spent in preparing the first edition, published in
1804-07. The work was based chiefly on Washington's own diaries and
letters and secret archives and it told not simply the epic story of
this great life but the truth about the birth of our nation. Marshall
later spent fifteen years revising the first edition, verifying to the
last detail every chapter, page and paragraph of his monumental work.

The first edition, published by C.P. Wayne of Philadelphia, was an
achievement in beautiful printing and bookmaking and still stands out
today as such. The present publishers have followed the format of the
original edition but have used the revised text which Marshall spent
so many years in perfecting.

Washington's personality lives on in John Marshall's great biography.
He still has the power to raise up men to greatness as he did during
his lifetime. The precepts, the principles and the shining example of
this foremost of self-educated, self-made Americans have the power to
uplift and start toward new heights of achievement, all who come in