(H)our History Lesson: What About Heroes?: Marshall and Wilson

Marshall print by by J.H.E. Whitney after St. Mamin, 1889, Library of Congress LC-USZ62-8499. Wilson photograph by Pach Brothers, 1912, Library of Congress LC-USZ62-132907.

This lesson plan was adapted by Talia Brenner and Katie McCarthy from two Teaching with Historic Places lesson plans. If you're interested in more information and activities on this topic, explore the full lessons: “‘The Great Chief Justice’ at Home” and “Woodrow Wilson: Prophet of Peace.”

Grade Level Adapted For:

This lesson is intended for middle school learners but can easily be adapted for use by learners of all ages.

Lesson Objectives:

Learners will be able to...

1. Explore the personal and professional lives of John Marshall and Woodrow Wilson through secondary sources.

2. Consider what is most important in determining who should be a national hero.

3. Research historic figures to determine if you believe that they should be labeled as a national hero.

Inquiry Question:

What does it mean to be an American hero?

The John Marshall house in the 20th century. National Park Service, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Reading:

What do we do when we learn that national heroes are more complicated than we thought? Can we separate a flawed person from their professional legacy? What traits are most important in determining who should be a national hero? Or should we not heroize historical figures at all? In recent years, many Americans have wrestled with these questions.

John Marshall: Personal and Professional Lives

John Marshall was the fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, serving from 1801 to 1835. He is widely praised as a hero for his legal decisions that made the Supreme Court a powerful part of the government, as envisioned in the Constitution.

Marshall lived in Richmond, Virginia in what is now known as the John Marshall House. At this home, Marshall enslaved well over a hundred individuals in the course of his lifetime.¹ Some people claim that although Marshall is guilty of enslaving people, he should still be considered heroic for his major Supreme Court decisions.

If we look more closely at Marshall’s less famous Supreme Court decisions, we can see that he also promoted slavery in his role as chief justice. Marshall ruled on topics related to slavery in many Supreme Court cases. One example is the case Mima Queen v. Hepburn (1813), where an enslaved woman named Mima Queen was suing for her freedom.² Queen claimed that her great grandmother had been free, so she should also be free.³ Marshall, and a majority of the Supreme Court, ruled that Queen’s claim was not strong enough, and that she should still be enslaved.⁴

Supreme Court cases not only affect the people involved in the case, but also influence other judges who are deciding on similar cases in the future. In this case, as in others, Marshall not only helped deny freedom to Mima Queen, but also affirmed the rights of white Americans to enslave people. Marshall’s defenses of slavery in cases such as Mima Queen v. Hepburn show that he supported slavery in both his professional and personal lives.

Discussion Questions

1. How were John Marshall’s personal and professional lives connected?

2. Would you consider John Marshall a hero? Why or why not?

3. When considering whether a historical figure is a hero, do you think that their personal and professional lives can ever be separated? Why or why not?

Map of the world in 1920. The League of Nations: A Pictorial Summary, Geneva: League of Nations, c. 1920. Courtesy of the Woodrow Wilson House.

Woodrow Wilson: Intent versus Impact

President Woodrow Wilson has long been called a hero for his work in international affairs. Wilson helped establish the League of Nations. The League of Nations existed from 1920 until the United Nations (UN) replaced it in 1946. Wilson attempted to get the United States to join the League, although it never actually did.

In recent years, more Americans have called attention to Wilson’s racism. Wilson segregated the federal workforce. He also screened the racist film The Birth of a Nation at the White House. Wilson’s racism also influenced his international work. Wilson spoke often about the concept of self-determination. Self-determination is the idea that a nation should be able to choose whether to be independent. In a speech to the U.S. Congress in 1918, Wilson said, “National aspirations must be respected; peoples may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent.”⁵

With speeches like this, Wilson helped make the concept popular. Yet Wilson only meant self-determination to refer to Europeans. The League of Nations did not allow colonized peoples in Africa and southeast Asia to claim self-determination. Wilson believed that Africans and southeast Asians were less capable of governing themselves than white people were. These regions joined the League of Nations as colonies of European countries and Japan. Colonies experienced economic and social harm alongside a lack of political freedom.

Later in the 20th century, self-determination would become less exclusive. In the 1950s and 1960s, colonized people in Africa and southeast Asia used the language of self-determination to fight for their independence. Due to his racist beliefs, Wilson never intended for self-determination to apply to these colonized regions of the world. Yet the idea of self-determination that he had helped popularize would later be used by people fighting colonization.

Discussion Questions

1. How did Wilson promote racism in the United States and internationally?

2. How was Wilson’s intention for self-determination different from its eventual impact?

3. Do you think that Wilson’s work promoting self-determination can be considered heroic?

4. When considering whether a historical figure is a hero, is the intention or the impact of their actions more important?

^Footnotes

^{1 Paul Finkelman, Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018), 37 in Michael S. Lewis, “Confronting a Monument: The Great Chief Justice in an Age of Confronting a Monument: The Great Chief Justice in an Age of Historical Reckoning,” The University of New Hampshire Law Review 17, no. 2 (2019), https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=unh_lr, 329.
2 “On This Day in Supreme Court History—February 5, 1813,” IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law blog, Feb. 5, 2018, http://blogs.kentlaw.iit.edu/iscotus/day-supreme-court-history-february-5-1813/.
3 “On This Day in Supreme Court History—February 5, 1813,” http://blogs.kentlaw.iit.edu/iscotus/day-supreme-court-history-february-5-1813/.
4 “On This Day in Supreme Court History—February 5, 1813,” http://blogs.kentlaw.iit.edu/iscotus/day-supreme-court-history-february-5-1813/.
5 “Address of the President of the United States Delivered at a Joint Session of the Two Houses of Congress, February 11, 1918,” Office of the Historian, United States Department of State, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1918Supp01v01/d59.}

Activity:

What makes a hero?

Have participants research a “hero” from American history who also is responsible for harmful beliefs or actions. Learners could either work independently or in small groups. Participants could research individuals they are studying in class, or may choose other figures. If participants need to complete their own research, they should be sure to use credible sources. Possible individuals to research include:

• Susan B. Anthony

• Abraham Lincoln

• Margaret Sanger

• John Muir

Have learners answer the following questions:

1. In what ways is this person honored as a hero? (celebrations, statues, awards, films, etc.)

2. Why is this person considered a hero?

3. What harmful beliefs or actions is this person responsible for?

4. Do you think this person should be considered a hero? If so, why? If not, how do you think this person should be remembered?

After learners have completed the questions, discuss the following as a group:

• What are some problems with treating historical figures as heroes? What are some advantages?

• What traits are most important in determining who is a hero?

• Why do people treat certain historical figures as heroes?

• Should people look to history to find heroes?

Wrap-up:

1. What do you think it means to be an American hero? Is there someone in your life that you look up to?

2. Does your town have any monuments to people considered heroes? Who are they?

3. Why is it important to consider all aspects of someone’s life when calling them a hero?

Additional Resources:

Woodrow Wilson House: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/woodrow_wilson_house.htmlWoodrow Wilson Center: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/about-woodrow-wilson

Federal Judicial Center
The History of the Federal Judiciary portion of the Federal Judicial Center’s Web Page presents basic reference information about the history of the federal courts and the judges who have served on the federal courts since 1789, including John Marshall.