Decision
In the end, the Supreme Court decided on behalf of McCulloch. The Supreme Court ruled that the creation of a national bank was in fact constitutional. This verdict was backed up by Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the Constitution, known as the Elastic Clause; this clause gave Congress the power to do anything it deemed "necessary and proper" to protect the interests of the United States. The Court claimed that the creation of this national bank was within the implied powers of Congress and was necessary to create and coin a national currency, collect taxes, and borrow money. The court also determined that the states did not have the power to tax the federal government of the United States. They justified their decision by using Article VI of the Constitution; this article declares that the national government holds supremacy over the states. By giving the states the power to tax the federal government, the Court would be directly violating this article and making the states, not the national government, a sovereign power.
Second National Bank
In April 1816, the Second National Bank of the United States was chartered. It was located in Philadelphia with several branches in various states. It followed the ways of the first National Bank created by Alexander Hamilton. Moreover, many questions rose about the Constitutionality of a National Bank. It was often times viewed as harmful to the state economies and local businesses. The people also thought that it gave the national government to much power. Both the idea and the existence of the bank was solely objected by a portion of the population.
McCulloch v.
Maryland (1819)
Overall Importance and Significance
Secondary Issue
On February 11, 1818, the Maryland state assembly passed an act to add a tax on all the paper that banks used. This tax applied to all banks not chartered by the state such as The Second National Bank. Under the law, the Second National Bank had to pay a tax to obtain special stamped paper or an annual state tax of $15,000. James McCulloch, the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank in Maryland, refused to pay the tax. This lead to the Maryland filing a suit against McCulloch and then later he brought the case to the Supreme Court. The secondary issue in this case was if the Sate had the implied power to tax an agency of the United States Government.
By:
Alexander Hesketh
Ali Harb
Alayna Schaffer
Kayla Bride
McCulloch v. Maryland proved to be one of the landmark cases that helped our country and government overcome a very controversial issue regarding the roles of the federal government and the state governments. The case challenged the constitutionality of the states (in this case Maryland) being able to tax anything of the national government, and deemed this action unconstitutional. Furthermore, the federal government was given not only the powers delegated through the Constitution, but also powers that fell under the Elastic Clause collectively known as implied powers. This made the federal/national government the sovereign power in relation to the states proving that they had "supreme authority". This case reaffirmed and insured the rights for the Congress to utilize the implied powers to help carryout their delegated powers, and declared the supremacy of the national governments over the states. Its like how the the Supreme Court said on the case, If we would allow the states to consume this power we "would return the country to the turmoil suffered under the Articles of Confederation".
Chief Justice John Marshall's Decision