John Marshall and Thomas Jefferson were both Virginians; they were also distant relatives. How did they turn out to be so different?

An exemplary aristocrat who advocated democracy, Jefferson was never comfortable associating with the common man. Marshall, who distrusted democracy, never lost the common touch. Jefferson opposed an energetic central government as a danger to individual liberty; Marshall saw the government in Washington as the keystone of national well-being. Jefferson identified with Virginia; Marshall, with the United States. Jefferson favored agriculture and advocated the virtues of rural life; Marshall, an avid farmer himself, was more attuned to the needs of commerce and industry ... In some respects the differences involved the classic tension between the man of ideas and the man of affairs. Jefferson was at his best when articulating a philosophy of government. Marshall, when applying one.