The "Midnight Judges", "Great Chief Justice", RE IE United States Constitution, Marbury, ET AL, Et Cetera

THE GREAT CHIEF JUSTICE ~ Marshall's greatest decisions form the heart of commentary on the U.S. Constitution .. established judicial review of the courts over laws enacted by Congress and over acts of state government when either was challenged as not obeying the Constitution .. judgements defended the reliability of contracts and protected private property rights .. convincingly argued .. Constitution .. permanent supreme law of the United States, to be interpreted by the Supreme Court.

As a result, the Supreme Court, in response to Marbury's petition, could not issue the writ. This decision avoided a direct conflict with the Jefferson administration. At the same time, it also negated an act passed by Congress. Marshall wrote that it would be absurd to insist that the courts must uphold unconstitutional acts of the legislature. No act of Congress could do something forbidden by the Constitution. Marshall's reasoning established the Court's power to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional a monumental first which became a cornerstone of the American democratic system.

http://www.enotes.com/marbury-v-madison-reference/marbury-v-madison 

The Constitutional Convention occurred in three separate phases. The first, from May 23 to July 26, created the basic features of the national government, including its division into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. During this phase, delegates also arrived at one important compromise between the interests of large and small states. That compromise created a bicameral, or two-chamber, legislature, composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate. During the second phase of the convention, from July 27 to August 6, the five-man Committee of Detail created a rough draft of the Constitution. In the third phase, which lasted from August 6 to September 6, the delegates debated remaining sticking points, particularly relating to the Executive Branch and the means of electing a president. Eventually, they settled on the Electoral College suggested by Benjamin Franklin.

One of the most famous of its essays is The Federalist, number 10, by James Madison. In it, Madison addressed the issue of whether or not the republican government created by the Constitution can protect the liberties of its citizens. The problem that Madison saw as most destructive of popular government is what he called faction. A faction, according to Madison, is "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." Factions, Madison added, become especially dangerous when they form a majority of the population.

Madison divided popular government into two types, democratic and republican, and preferred the latter. In a democracy, all citizens participate directly in the decisions of government. In a republic, representatives elected by the people make the decisions of government.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Constitution+of+the+United+States