Where is William Marbury's Commission?

Answer 1

The short answer is that no one knows. In a letter to William Johnson (June 12, 1823) Jefferson talks about the case, and he says that he found the commissions, and "countermanded" them. He certainly stopped them from being delivered, but there is some speculation as to what he actually did with them. The George Washington Law Review devoted an issue to the Marbury v. Madison, and in an article entitled "John Marshall, the Mandamus Case, and the Judiciary Crisis, 1801-1803" by Charles F. Hobson says "Did Jefferson go further and order the original commissions to be destroyed and the copies, if any had been recorded, to be expunged from the commission book? Given his moderating influence on Jefferson on the other occasions, it may not be implausible to conjecture that Madison, had he been on the spot, would have counseled caution in regard to the commissions."

A quick Google search reveals a comment by "A Northwestern Law Student" claiming that the commission was once on display in the National Archives. A quick call to NARA reveals that they have never known the fate of the commission, let alone owned it. The documents that the National Archives does hold related to Marbury v. Madison and that have rotated on display in the main gallery include the order served on Madison, Marbury's show cause order (which is what we are assuming the student saw), Marbury's affidavit in the case, and a rough draft of another show cause order. Images of some of these materials rotate on NARA's web site. Hope this helps.

--The Reference Staff at the IU Bloomington Law Library.