McCulloch v. Maryland

            In 1819, the famous and highly controversial case of McCulloch v. Maryland was taken to and decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. This case dealt with the constitutionality of a Congress-chartered corporation, and more generally with the dispersion of power between state and federal governments. The First Bank of the United States had been destroyed by Congress in 1811 due to a simple lack of support. Shortly after, in the years following the War of 1812, a sudden inflation compelled Congress to establish a new national bank. Therefore, the Second Bank of the United States was then cleared by Congress to help control the unregulated making of currency by the state banks. .
             There was still much controversy between the people on the constitutionality of the BUS. Maryland was the first to stand up and set an example by imposing a tax on all of the banks that were not chartered by the state. When the strong federal bank that was branched in Baltimore refused to pay taxes, Maryland decided to make an issue of it and take it to court. .
             Chief Justice John Marshall was the one that was going to have to make the difficult rulings on the case. After much debate, the case resulted in two major conclusions. First that the "necessary and proper clause" in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution permitted Congress to establish a Bank of the United States, despite the fact that this power was not expressly stated in the Constitution. The chartering of a bank, according to the Court, was a power implied from the power over federal fiscal operations. Second, the Court also established the supremacy of the federal government over the states, therefore the state of Maryland could not tax the branch of the Bank of the United States that was in Baltimore. Because the state cannot impede constitutional federal laws, the tax was voted unconstitutional. .
             This case then became the legal cornerstone of the future expansions of federal power.