McCulloch v. Maryland

In the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court was asked to deliberate the constitutionality of the establishment of a corporation by the Federal Government in a state.  The constitutionality of this issue required the Supreme Court to decide whether the Necessary and Proper Clause in the Constitution of the United States granted the Federal Government sufficient power to establish the Second National Bank in the State of Maryland.  The Supreme Court was asked to elaborate on the powers of the Federal Government over the power of the states in regard to the Necessary and Proper Clause.

On April 10, 1816, the Federal Government of the United States passed an act called "An Act to Incorporate the Subscribers to the Bank of the United States" in which the Second Bank of the United States was incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  After being in operation, the bank opened a branch in the city of Baltimore, Maryland and successfully issued Federal Bank Notes.  In 1818, the state of Maryland passed an act which imposed a tax on all banks in the state of Maryland that were not charted by the Maryland State Legislature, in the process, taxing the Second Bank of the United States, which was located within the state but not run by the state.  Declaring this tax unconstitutional, the head of the Baltimore branch of the bank, James McCulloch, sued the state of Maryland.  The case was presented to the Supreme Court, which was forced to rule on the constitutionality of this tax.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of James McCulloch under the condition that the United States Federal Government retained the power to charter a bank under the Necessary and Proper clause of the United States Constitution, which, according to the Court, granted Congress with the right to pass any law which is defined by the implied powers of the Constitution.  One of these powers, reasoned the Court, was the establishment of a national bank.

The reasons for this landmark decision are varied, but most importantly, the Supreme Court cited the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which grants the Congress of the United States with the power to enact laws which are implied, but not explicitly stated by the Constitution.  Through this clause, the Congress is able to enact laws that are beneficial to the well being of the country as long as they reside within the bounds of the implied powers.

This Supreme Court decision is one of the most important decisions of the early United States.  It effectively asserted the Federal Government’s superiority over the states and prevented the states from interfering with the general decisions of the Federal government.  In doing so, the Supreme Court also granted the Federal Congress with a variety of powers not expressly stated in the Constitution, and set the precedent for the interpretation of the Constitution as the basis for many laws in the future of the United States.  Without this decision by the Supreme Court, Congress would not be able to pass many of the laws necessary to benefit the common good of the country, and would thus be exponentially weaker.  This decision of McCulloch v. Maryland was entirely correct because it allowed Congress the freedom to interpret the spirit of the Constitution, rather than the specific letter of the law and gave Congress the power to enact many laws implied by the Constitution that they would otherwise not be able to pass.  This decision was also correct because it ended the bickering between the states and the Federal government over implied and expressed powers, and asserted once and for all that the Federal government was to be the final authority on all national matters, rather than the states.