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THE MARSHALL COURT AND CULTURAL CHANGE, 1815-1835
is a sacred principle that in all such cases the accused has a right to all
the evidence which is necessary for his defense. . . .13K
Marshall ruled that except for "matters whose disclosure would
endanger the public safety," the president was constitutionally required
to produce subpoenaed documents and appear in court.139 Jefferson had
already agreed "voluntarily to furnish, on all occasions, whatever the
purposes of justice may require," although he reserved the right to decide
for himself "what papers ... the public interests permit to be commu-
nicated."140 Nonetheless, Jefferson was furious at Martin for his remarks,
and suggested to George Hay, the government's chief prosecutor, that
Martin be indicted for treason, since Jefferson claimed that he had evi-
dence that Martin "knew all about the criminal enterprise" by the summer
of 1806. Jefferson stated to Hay that an indictment of Martin would "put
down this unprincipled and imprudent federal bull-dog, and add another
proof that the most glamorous defenders of Burr are all his accom-
plices."141
The Burr trial lasted until September 1807, when the jury acquitted
Burr and one of his alleged accomplices, Harman Blennerhassett,142 of
treason and of conspiring against the government. While Martin had won
the case, he suffered both personally and financially from his association
with Burr. He had twice stood surety for Burr's bail,143 and when Burr
fled the country after his 1807 trial he forfeited his bail, since a charge
of conspiracy against the government was still pending against him in
Ohio.144 Martin was accordingly made responsible for the payment of
13« Quoted in ibid., I. 127-28.
119 United States v. Burr. 25 F. Cas.
25, 33 (C.C.D. Va. 1807).
140 T. Jefferson to G[eorge] Hay,
June 17, 1807, in P. Ford, ed.. The
Works of Thomas Jefferson (12 vols.,
1905), X, 400.
141 Ibid.
142 For an ornate, and highly purpo-
sive, sketch of Blennerhassett, see Wil-
liam Wirt's remarks at the Burr trial,
quoted in Robertson, Trials of Burr, II,
96-98. Wirt, who was aiding in the
prosecution, said, in part, of Blenner-
hassett:
Who is Blennerhassett? A native of
Ireland, a man of letters, fled from
the storms of his own country to find
quiet in ours. His history shows that
war is not the natural element of his
mind. If it had been, he never would
have exchanged Ireland for Amer-
ica. . . .
Wirt then went on to suggest that
Burr had "wound himself into the open
and unpractised heart of the unfortunate
Blennerhassett," infusing "into it the
poison of his own ambition." The Har-
man Blennerhassett family were close
friends with the Thomas Emmets: when
Emmet arrived in New York in 1806
Blennerhassett came to visit him, and
in 1809, after Blennerhassett had been
acquitted of treason, the two corre-
sponded about their children's educa-
tional prospects. Blennerhassett even-
tually returned to Ireland in 1822,
leaving his family in New York, where
they came into regular contact with the
Emmets. See Emmet. Memoir, I, 405,
422, 455.
141 See Robertson, Trials of Burr, I.
106; W. Safford, ed., The Blennerhas-
sett Papers (1864). 461.
144 Clarkson and Jett. Luther Martin,
292.
234
Chapter IV: Prominent Lawyers Before the Marshall Court
Burr's bail, which came to about $2o,ooo.145 In addition, Martin, Burr,
Blennerhassett, and Marshall were hanged in effigy by a mob in Baltimore
in November 1807, the participants referring to Martin as "Lawyer
Brandy Bottle."146 The association with Burr also affected Martin's po-
litical ambitions: when he ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in
1811, an unfriendly newspaper contributed to Martin's defeat by remind-
ing its readers of his defense of Burr and of the mock hanging.147 The
Burr trial also revealed, as had the Chase trial before it, Martin's tendency
to personalize his advocacy. He defended Chase because Chase was an
old friend; he attacked Jefferson because he felt Jefferson was using the
presidency to persecute his client. In both trials he felt no compunction
about presenting his arguments as his own theories or about making out-
spoken comments on his adversaries. He was, as Adams noted, "auda-
cious" and candid: he did not conceal his feelings in "rhetoric and af-
fectations."
Despite the unpopularity of some of his causes, Martin's law prac-
tice continued to thrive, and he began to appear in the Supreme Court
with increasing frequency, arguing principally prize and insurance cases.
He appeared twenty-five times between 1808 and i8i3.14K The most fa-
mous case he argued in that period was Fletcher v. Peck, the first major
Contract Clause case decided by the Marshall Court.149 Martin's profes-
sional responsibilities also increased. In 1813 he was named chief justice
of the municipal criminal court for Baltimore city and county, a position
he held until the court was abolished in 1816. He continued to practice
law and serve as "unofficial attorney general" of the state of Maryland
in this period (the office being temporarily abolished),150 and in 1818 was
officially reappointed to the office when it was re-established.151 Martin
was now seventy, and he continued to thrive despite a tendency toward
chronic alcoholism. As attorney general of Maryland, he was among the
distinguished group of lawyers—Webster, Wirt, Pinkney, Joseph Hop-
kinson, and Walter Jones—who argued the great case of McCulloch v.
Maryland*52 in 1819.
Martin's life was intimately bound to his profession. Like many
145 F. Wandell and M. Minnegrode.
Aaron Burr (2 vols.. 1925), II, 308.
146 See Baltimore Federal Gazette.
Nov. 4, 1807.
147 Baltimore Whig, Sept. 28, 1811:
Baltimore Federal Republican, Oct. 8.
1811.
148 See 4 Cranch (1808 (-7 Crunch
(1812 and 1813). There was no 1811
Term of Court because of the absence
of a quorum. Justices Chase and Cush-
ing having died alter the 1810 Term,
their replacements. Justices Duvall and
Story, not having been appointed in
time to begin hearing cases by February
1811, and Justice Todd having been ab-
sent for the 1811 Term.
149 6 Cranch 87 (1810). Fletcher v.
Peck is briefly discussed in Chapter IX.
150 Clarkson and Jett. Luther Martin,
290-91.
151 Ibid., 292.
152 4 Wheat. 316(1819). See the dis-
cussion in Chapter VIII.
235
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