What happened to William Marbury after the US Supreme Court decision was handed down in Marbury v. Madison?

Answer 1

William Marbury decided against trying the case in the lower courts, and never got his commission. Marbury was already a wealthy man, and may have been less interested in becoming a justice of the peace than in challenging Jefferson's authority.

He went on to found two Georgetown banks, Bank of the Potomac (1809) and Farmers and Mechanics' Bank, where he also served as president, in 1814. He died in 1835, the same year as John Marshall.

Case Citation:

Marbury v. Madison, 5 US 137 (1803)

Answer 2

William Marbury was one of the midnight judges appointed by John Adams at the end of his presidency in 1801. He was appointed as a justice of the peace. His commission was not delivered in time so his appointment was cancelled. After the Supreme Court failed to uphold his judgeship, he was left without what he had worked for many years.

Answer 3

Dennis Ramsay (1756-1810) d. age 54
Married: Jane Allen Taylor (date unknown)
Nine children

What little is known about Dennis Ramsay comes from random public records, rather than formal biography, so the details are sketchy. For some reason, there appears to be more information about Ramsay's life prior to the Marbury v. Madison, (1803) case than after.

Dennis Ramsay was a native of Alexandria, Virginia, a small town outside the nation's capital founded by his father, William Ramsay, in 1724. William Ramsay was the town's first mayor, an office Dennis also filled for two non-successive terms, 1789-1790, and 1793-1794. Dennis was active in local politics through most of the 1790s, acting variously as city recorder, alderman, councilman, and common councilman.

Additionally, the Governor of Virginia appointed him to a judgeship on the Alexandria Hustings Court, most years between 1783 and 1797 (unaccounted years unexplained).

Dennis Ramsay leased a tavern (George Tavern) at the corner of Royal and Cameron, in Alexandria, in 1787.

From 1796-1801, he was listed as a representative (salesman) for Henry, John & Co. Stone Cutters.

Ramsay was a charter member of the Masons, Alexandria Lodge 39, and an officer of the association for 20 years, from 1783-1803 (the year of the Marbury decision).

Dennis Ramsay acted as one of George Washington's pall bearers when the former president died in 1799. Dennis' father and President Washington had been lifelong friends, and Dennis' mother, Ann McCarty Bell, was a cousin of Washington's.

From 1809-1816, he (and/or his estate) was an investor in Joseph Cooper's Tavern (address not listed).

According to the Winter 2000 issue of Historie Alexandria Quarterly, it appears Dennis Ramsay finally received a commission as justice of the peace (the appointment for which he unsuccessfully sued Madison) for the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Alexandria. No years were listed; however, the Alexandria court was established in 1801, so there is a strong possibility this activity occurred sometime after the Marburycase.

At another unspecified point in the early 19th century, Ramsay was part of a group that petitioned the Speaker of the House of Delegates and Virginia Governor to create two new state government positions: Inspector of Flour and Inspector of Bread. There is no mention of whether the request was fulfilled.

From approximately 1806-1809 he was a cross-claimant in a protracted land dispute involving his 1785 purchase of a lot at an estate sale. The lot had a defective title, resulting in an aborted sale and return of the deed to the auction house handling the estate. The ex-wife of the decedent, a Mr. Kirkpatrick, believed she had a claim to the property and brought suit against anyone who owned the land after Kirkpatrick's death. The legal action was finally resolved when a Judge Roan ruled the woman (now Mrs. Claiborne) had no inheritance right to her ex-husband's property.

The last bit is incidental to Ramsay's life as it occurred in 1814, four years after his death, but it appears his widow allowed a slave named Daniel Payne to purchase his freedom from Dennis Ramsay's estate for a sum of $250.

Dennis Ramsay is buried behind the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, in Alexandria, Virginia, along with other notable members of his era, including George Washington's private physician.