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Maryland</li></ol></nav><script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.history.com"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Topics","item":"https://www.history.com/topics"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"U.S. Constitution","item":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"McCulloch v. Maryland"}]}</script><div class="page-header__content"><div class="page-header__content-container"><h1 class="page-header__title">McCulloch v. Maryland</h1></div></div><div class="page-header__post-info"><div class="page-header__post-info-container"><div class="page-header__author-date"><p class="page-header__author"><span aria-hidden="true">By: </span><a aria-label="Read more articles from History.com Editors" link-name="History.com Editors" href="/author/history">History.com Editors</a></p><p>Updated: <time dateTime="2023-07-28T20:35:51">July 28, 2023</time>  | <span>Original: <time dateTime="2009-11-09T14:24:14">November 9, 2009</time></span></p></div><div class="page-header__sharing hide-print"><button class="button is-style-standalone is-style-standalone--dark-background has-icon"><svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24"><path d="M16 1H4C2.9 1 2 1.9 2 3V17H4V3H16V1ZM19 5H8C6.9 5 6 5.9 6 7V21C6 22.1 6.9 23 8 23H19C20.1 23 21 22.1 21 21V7C21 5.9 20.1 5 19 5ZM19 21H8V7H19V21Z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg>copy page link</button><button class="button has-icon button--print page-header__print-button has-dark-background-with-outline" type="button" aria-label="Print this page"><svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" title="Print" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24"><path d="M19 7.5H5C3.34 7.5 2 8.84 2 10.5V16.5H6V20.5H18V16.5H22V10.5C22 8.84 20.66 7.5 19 7.5ZM16 18.5H8V13.5H16V18.5ZM19 11.5C18.45 11.5 18 11.05 18 10.5C18 9.95 18.45 9.5 19 9.5C19.55 9.5 20 9.95 20 10.5C20 11.05 19.55 11.5 19 11.5ZM18 2.5H6V6.5H18V2.5Z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg><span class="button__desktop-text">Print Page</span></button></div></div></div></div><figure class="page-header__figure hide-print"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;overflow:hidden;width:initial;height:initial;background:none;opacity:1;border:0;margin:0;padding:0;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0"><img alt="HISTORY: McCulloch v. Maryland" sizes="100vw" srcSet="https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=640&height=426.66666666666663&crop=640%3A426.66666666666663%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 640w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=750&height=500&crop=750%3A500%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 750w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=828&height=552&crop=828%3A552%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 828w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1080&height=540&crop=1080%3A540%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 1080w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1248&height=624&crop=1248%3A624%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 1248w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1920&height=960&crop=1920%3A960%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 1920w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=2048&height=1024&crop=2048%3A1024%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 2048w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=3840&height=1920&crop=3840%3A1920%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp 3840w" src="https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=3840&height=1920&crop=3840%3A1920%2Csmart&quality=75&auto=webp" decoding="async" data-nimg="fill" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;box-sizing:border-box;padding:0;border:none;margin:auto;display:block;width:0;height:0;min-width:100%;max-width:100%;min-height:100%;max-height:100%;object-fit:cover"/></span><figcaption class="image-credit"><span>Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Credit: Library of Congress)</span></figcaption></figure></header><div class="article-content-box"><div class="article-content content"><p>On March 6, 1819, the U.S. <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts">Supreme Court </a>ruled in<a href="https://bit.ly/2QL3j2q"> McCulloch v. Maryland</a> that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t explicitly spelled out in the document.</p><p>That decision made it possible for the federal government to expand dramatically over the next two centuries, and to take on responsibilities that the nation’s founders couldn’t have envisioned. Without McCulloch v. Maryland, Congress wouldn’t have been able to create the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal">New Deal</a> or<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/social-security-act"> Social Security</a> in the 1930s, or enact legislation such as the<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act"> Civil Rights Act of 1964</a> and the<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/heres-why-the-affordable-care-act-is-so-controversial-video"> Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act</a> in 2010. </p><h2 id="conflict-over-a-national-bank">Conflict Over a National Bank</h2><p>The controversy that led to the Supreme Court decision actually began several decades before the lawsuit was even filed. As the <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/first-bank-of-the-us">Federal Reserve History </a>website details, in 1790, the new nation’s first-ever Secretary of the Treasury,<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/alexander-hamilton"> Alexander Hamilton</a>, wrote a report for Congress in which he advocated creation of a federal bank. Hamilton argued that a central, government-controlled financial institution, similar to the Bank of England, was important for stabilizing the young nation’s economy. He envisioned the bank issuing paper money, providing a safe place to keep public funds, collecting tax revenues, and paying government debts. He also thought it could handle private-sector commercial transactions as well.</p><div class="wp-block wp-block-history-video"><div class="continues-video-player"><div class="video-player" tabindex="-1"><button class="video-player__close" aria-label="Close and pause the video" type="button"><svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M19 6.41L17.59 5 12 10.59 6.41 5 5 6.41 10.59 12 5 17.59 6.41 19 12 13.41 17.59 19 19 17.59 13.41 12 19 6.41z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></button><div class="video-player-decoy" style="background-image:url(https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/806/807/BRAND_THC_BSFC_178891_SFM_000_2997_15_20150113_00_FIX_HD.jpg)"><div class="video-player-decoy__title-wrapper"><div class="video-player-decoy__title" aria-hidden="true">Alexander Hamilton</div></div><button type="button" class="video-player-decoy__play" aria-label="Play Alexander Hamilton"><span class="video-player-decoy__play-icon"></span></button></div></div></div></div><p>Hamilton’s idea faced strong opposition from critics such as<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson"> Thomas Jefferson</a>, who were afraid that a federal bank would become a financial monopoly that undermined state banks. They also feared that it would favor financiers and merchants over farmers, who usually were debtors. Jefferson argued that the Constitution didn’t give the federal government the authority to form corporations such as banks. But in the end, Hamilton’s argument persuaded enough members of Congress to gain passage, and President <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington">George Washington</a> signed the bill creating a national bank into law in 1791.</p><p>That same year, the<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/bank-of-the-united-states"> first Bank of the United States</a> opened in Philadelphia, and branches subsequently were established in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. The new bank was a public-private institution, with the federal government initially owning $2 million of its stock and private investors holding the other $8 million. But the controversy over the bank continued, and when its charter came up for renewal in 1811, it was narrowly defeated in Congress.</p><p>After the War of 1812, however, the U.S. government again found itself heavily in debt, and private-sector financiers such as<a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-jacob-astor-is-born"> John Jacob Astor</a> joined with politicians such as Rep. <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-politics/john-c-calhoun">John C. Calhoun</a> to advocate for creation of another federal bank. </p><p>In 1816, Congress finally gave in, and the following year, the<a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/second-bank-of-the-us"> second Bank of the United States</a> reopened in Philadelphia. The new bank was much more far-reaching in scope than its predecessor, providing extensive credit to farmers and businesses and financing the shipping of goods and agricultural crops both to domestic and foreign markets. The new bank was one of the biggest companies in the nation, and its clout enabled it to control the interest rates that other banks could charge to borrowers.</p><h2 id="maryland-attempts-to-tax-the-second-bank-of-the-united-states">Maryland Attempts to Tax the Second Bank of the United States</h2><p>But there was still a lot of opposition. In 1818, Maryland legislators passed a law imposing a stamp tax on currency issued by second Bank of the United States, in an effort to hinder it from doing business. In response, a cashier at the bank’s Baltimore branch, James W. McCulloch, refused to pay the tax. The state <a href="https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf">then sued McCulloch</a> for $110, the penalty in the law for circulating unstamped banknotes in Maryland.</p><p>State officials won their case in the Maryland courts, which led the bank to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which began to hear arguments in the case on Feb. 22, 1819, in a courtroom <a href="https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/senate-wing/old-supreme-court-chamber#:~:text=The%20Basics&text=The%20Old%20Supreme%20Court%20Chamber,Court%20from%201810%20until%201860."> in the basement of the U.S. Capitol</a>.</p><p>Presiding over then-seven-member court was the nation’s fourth Chief Justice,<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/john-marshall"> John Marshall</a>. Marshall was a <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history">Revolutionary War</a> veteran who had served as President <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams">John Adams</a>’ envoy to France and Secretary of State before Adams appointed him to head the court in 1801. Marshall joined the court just weeks before Adams’ successor Thomas Jefferson was set to take over.</p><p>Both sides had high-powered lawyers to represent them. Representing Maryland was<a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html"> Luther Martin</a>, the state’s Attorney General, who had served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Martin had famously walked out of the Constitutional Convention proceedings because he opposed the creation of a strong central government. </p><p>Speaking on behalf of the bank was<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/daniel-webster"> Daniel Webster</a>, an attorney and skilled orator who served in both the U.S. House and the Senate in his career, and was an advocate of a strong, activist federal government.</p><p>Martin argued that because the Constitution didn’t explicitly say that Congress could create a bank, it didn’t have authority. He cited the<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-x"> 10th Amendment</a>, which says that any powers that the Constitution doesn’t delegate to the federal government, or prohibit the states from using, are reserved for the states or the American people. “We insist that the only safe rule is the plain letter of the Constitution,” he said, according to a<a href="https://bit.ly/3fJBHmO"> transcript</a> of the hearing.</p><p>Webster, in turn, argued that<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-i/clauses/754"> Article I, Section 8</a> of the U.S. Constitution, which gave Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out some power that the Constitution does spell out, was sufficient authority. Creating the Bank of the United States, Webster argued, was necessary and proper for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes, borrowing money, supporting armed forces, regulating commerce, and other crucial functions of the government.</p><p>On the question of whether or not Maryland or another state could tax the federal bank, Webster said cited the Constitution’s<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/31#:~:text=This%20Constitution%2C%20and%20the%20Laws,Constitution%20or%20Laws%20of%20any"> Article VI,</a> which states that laws enacted by Congress “shall be the supreme law of the land,” and said it prohibited states from passing any legislation “which shall be repugnant to a law of the United States.” </p><h2 id="the-marshall-court-verdict">The Marshall Court Verdict</h2><div class="wp-block wp-block-history-video"><div class="continues-video-player"><div class="video-player" tabindex="-1"><button class="video-player__close" aria-label="Close and pause the video" type="button"><svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><path d="M19 6.41L17.59 5 12 10.59 6.41 5 5 6.41 10.59 12 5 17.59 6.41 19 12 13.41 17.59 19 19 17.59 13.41 12 19 6.41z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></button><div class="video-player-decoy" style="background-image:url(https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/385/159/BRANDHD2398_THC_HOSF_211105_SFM_000_2398_15_20171214_00_HD.jpg)"><div class="video-player-decoy__title-wrapper"><div class="video-player-decoy__title" aria-hidden="true">The Legislative Branch</div></div><button type="button" class="video-player-decoy__play" aria-label="Play The Legislative Branch"><span class="video-player-decoy__play-icon"></span></button></div></div></div></div><p>After the oral arguments were completed, Marshall and his fellow justices took only a few days to render their unanimous ruling, in which they adopted Webster’s position and rejected Martin’s reasoning. Marshall wrote the court’s<a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false&page=transcript&doc=21&title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29"> opinion</a> himself, as he usually did, and read it aloud to a packed courtroom.</p><p>“The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends,” Marshall said. “It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confiding the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end.”</p><p>Additionally, Marshall wrote, states “have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution the powers vested in the general government. This is, we think, the unavoidable consequence of that supremacy which the constitution has declared.”</p><h2 id="significance-of-mcculloch-v-maryland">Significance of McCulloch v. Maryland</h2><p>Although McCulloch v. Maryland gave the federal government wide-ranging authority, even the ruling wasn’t enough to protect the second Bank of the United States from its political opposition. In 1832, President <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson">Andrew Jackson</a>, a vehement opponent of the bank, ordered that the federal government’s deposits be withdrawn and deposited in state banks. This order caused the national bank to lose a lot of its power and influence. </p><p>In 1834, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against renewing the bank’s charter, and it faded from existence. However, in the early 1900s, a succession of banking crises prompted Congress to revise the idea of a national bank, and in 1913, the<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/"> Federal Reserve System</a> was created.</p><p>Ultimately, McCulloch v. Maryland made possible the rise of what some have labeled “<a href="https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html">the administrative state</a>,” in which the government employs officials to oversee many aspects of American life, from environmental issues to labor disputes.</p><h2 id="sources">Sources</h2><p><a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false&page=transcript&doc=21&title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29">U.S. Supreme Court, Opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)</a></p><p>“McCulloch v. Maryland (1819),” <a href="https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf">Constitutional Rights Foundation</a>.</p><p><em><a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20575880M/Reports_of_Cases_Argued_and_Adjudged_in_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States._February_Term_...">Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, February Term, 1819</a></em><em>,</em> Henry Wheaton,</p><p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PmxqT9NrAzIC&pg=PA374&dq=%E2%80%9CWe+insist,+that+the+only+safe+rule+is+the+plain+letter+of+the+Constitution&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia2v2ngePwAhXMFlkFHeL7AYQQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=%20%22a%20bank%20is%20a%20necessary%20and%20proper%22&f=false"></a></p><p><em>The Spirit of the Constitution: John Marshall and the 200-year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover"></a></em>, by David S. Schwartz,<em> </em><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Oxford University Press</a>, 2019.</p><p>“John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice,” <a href="https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php">William & Mary University Law School</a>.</p><p><a href="https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php"></a></p><p>“Luther Martin,” <a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html">Teaching American History</a>.</p><p><a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html"></a></p><p>“McCulloch v. Maryland Case Summary: What You Need to Know” by Laura Temme, <a href="https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html">FindLaw.com</a>.</p></div><footer class="article-footer article-footer--topic"><div class="author-byline article__contained has-elevation"><div class="byline__content"><div class="byline__information"><div class="byline__author-wrapper"><p class="byline__author"><span aria-hidden="true">By: </span><a aria-label="Read more articles from History.com Editors" link-name="History.com Editors" href="/author/history">History.com Editors</a></p></div><div class="byline__description"><p><a href="http://history.com/">HISTORY.com</a> works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. 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Maryland</dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">Author</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description"><a class="article-header__author" aria-label="Read more articles from History.com Editors" link-name="History.com Editors" href="/author/history">History.com Editors</a></dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">Website Name</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description">HISTORY</dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">URL</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description"><a href="https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland">https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland</a></dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">Date Accessed</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description">November 27, 2024</dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">Publisher</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description">A&E Television Networks</dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">Last Updated</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description">July 28, 2023</dd></div><div class="article-sources__pair"><dt class="article-sources__pair-title">Original Published Date</dt><dd class="article-sources__pair-description">November 9, 2009</dd></div></dl></aside><div class="article-footer__facts-wrapper"><aside class="article-fact-check"><h2 class="article-fact-check__title">Fact Check</h2><p class="article-fact-check__copy">We strive for accuracy and fairness. 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All Rights Reserved.</p></div></footer></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"pageProps":{"_sentryTraceData":"3a639d52a84c4ea3b237ba8ea77d5e0c-b6b3e88f8c4fb5c1-0","_sentryBaggage":"sentry-environment=production,sentry-release=zQ071g4z-1OJvlBLY3TcS,sentry-public_key=6a648ea8c0214c3eb9223c5771a039ab,sentry-trace_id=3a639d52a84c4ea3b237ba8ea77d5e0c,sentry-transaction=%2Ftopics%2F%5Bterm%5D%2F%5Bslug%5D,sentry-sampled=false","featuredImage":{"id":9147,"date":"2023-02-28T07:41:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T07:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https://wp.editorial.aetnd.com/topics/stories/operation-barbarossa"},"modified":"2023-02-28T07:41:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T07:41:35","slug":"second_bank","status":"inherit","type":"attachment","link":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland/second_bank/","title":{"rendered":"second_bank"},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"credit":"Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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Maryland\" srcset=\"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=300 300w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1024 1024w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1536 1536w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=2048 2048w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1920 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"},"caption":{"rendered":""},"alt_text":"HISTORY: McCulloch v. 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Maryland\" srcset=\"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=300 300w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1024 1024w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1536 1536w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=2048 2048w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1920 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"},"caption":{"rendered":""},"alt_text":"HISTORY: McCulloch v. Maryland","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image/jpeg","media_details":{"file":"2009/11/second_bank.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"width":"150","height":"150","crop":"1","source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=150\u0026height=150\u0026crop=1:1","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"medium":{"width":"300","height":169,"crop":false,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=300\u0026height=169","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":"768","height":"0","crop":false,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=768","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"large":{"width":"1024","height":576,"crop":false,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1024\u0026height=576","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"1536x1536":{"width":1536,"height":864,"crop":false,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1536\u0026height=864","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"2048x2048":{"width":2048,"height":1152,"crop":false,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=2048\u0026height=1152","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"corpnews_large":{"width":1250,"height":625,"crop":true,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=1250\u0026height=625\u0026crop=2:1","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"corpnews_medium":{"width":800,"height":400,"crop":true,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=800\u0026height=400\u0026crop=2:1","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"corpnews_small":{"width":500,"height":250,"crop":true,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg?width=500\u0026height=250\u0026crop=2:1","file":"second_bank.jpg"},"full":{"file":"second_bank.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"mime_type":"image/jpeg","source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg"}},"width":1920,"height":1080,"filesize":1995171},"post":9146,"source_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg"}},"post":{"id":9146,"date":"2009-11-09T14:24:14","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T14:24:14","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-07-28T20:35:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T20:35:51","slug":"mcculloch-v-maryland","status":"publish","type":"topic","link":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","title":{"rendered":"McCulloch v. Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u003cp\u003eOn March 6, 1819, the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts\"\u003eSupreme Court \u003c/a\u003eruled in\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/2QL3j2q\"\u003e McCulloch v. Maryland\u003c/a\u003e that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t explicitly spelled out in the document.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat decision made it possible for the federal government to expand dramatically over the next two centuries, and to take on responsibilities that the nation’s founders couldn’t have envisioned. Without McCulloch v. Maryland, Congress wouldn’t have been able to create the \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal\"\u003eNew Deal\u003c/a\u003e or\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/social-security-act\"\u003e Social Security\u003c/a\u003e in the 1930s, or enact legislation such as the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act\"\u003e Civil Rights Act of 1964\u003c/a\u003e and the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/heres-why-the-affordable-care-act-is-so-controversial-video\"\u003e Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act\u003c/a\u003e in 2010.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eConflict Over a National Bank\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe controversy that led to the Supreme Court decision actually began several decades before the lawsuit was even filed. As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/first-bank-of-the-us\"\u003eFederal Reserve History \u003c/a\u003ewebsite details, in 1790, the new nation’s first-ever Secretary of the Treasury,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/alexander-hamilton\"\u003e Alexander Hamilton\u003c/a\u003e, wrote a report for Congress in which he advocated creation of a federal bank. Hamilton argued that a central, government-controlled financial institution, similar to the Bank of England, was important for stabilizing the young nation’s economy. He envisioned the bank issuing paper money, providing a safe place to keep public funds, collecting tax revenues, and paying government debts. He also thought it could handle private-sector commercial transactions as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHamilton’s idea faced strong opposition from critics such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson\"\u003e Thomas Jefferson\u003c/a\u003e, who were afraid that a federal bank would become a financial monopoly that undermined state banks. They also feared that it would favor financiers and merchants over farmers, who usually were debtors. Jefferson argued that the Constitution didn’t give the federal government the authority to form corporations such as banks. But in the end, Hamilton’s argument persuaded enough members of Congress to gain passage, and President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington\"\u003eGeorge Washington\u003c/a\u003e signed the bill creating a national bank into law in 1791.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat same year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/bank-of-the-united-states\"\u003e first Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e opened in Philadelphia, and branches subsequently were established in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. The new bank was a public-private institution, with the federal government initially owning $2 million of its stock and private investors holding the other $8 million. But the controversy over the bank continued, and when its charter came up for renewal in 1811, it was narrowly defeated in Congress.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the War of 1812, however, the U.S. government again found itself heavily in debt, and private-sector financiers such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-jacob-astor-is-born\"\u003e John Jacob Astor\u003c/a\u003e joined with politicians such as Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-politics/john-c-calhoun\"\u003eJohn C. Calhoun\u003c/a\u003e to advocate for creation of another federal bank. \u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1816, Congress finally gave in, and the following year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/second-bank-of-the-us\"\u003e second Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e reopened in Philadelphia. The new bank was much more far-reaching in scope than its predecessor, providing extensive credit to farmers and businesses and financing the shipping of goods and agricultural crops both to domestic and foreign markets. The new bank was one of the biggest companies in the nation, and its clout enabled it to control the interest rates that other banks could charge to borrowers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eMaryland Attempts to Tax the Second Bank of the United States\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut there was still a lot of opposition. In 1818, Maryland legislators passed a law imposing a stamp tax on currency issued by second Bank of the United States, in an effort to hinder it from doing business. In response, a cashier at the bank’s Baltimore branch, James W. McCulloch, refused to pay the tax. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003ethen sued McCulloch\u003c/a\u003e for $110, the penalty in the law for circulating unstamped banknotes in Maryland.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eState officials won their case in the Maryland courts, which led the bank to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which began to hear arguments in the case on Feb. 22, 1819, in a courtroom \u003ca href=\"https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/senate-wing/old-supreme-court-chamber#:~:text=The%20Basics\u0026amp;text=The%20Old%20Supreme%20Court%20Chamber,Court%20from%201810%20until%201860.\"\u003e in the basement of the U.S. Capitol\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePresiding over then-seven-member court was the nation’s fourth Chief Justice,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/john-marshall\"\u003e John Marshall\u003c/a\u003e. Marshall was a \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history\"\u003eRevolutionary War\u003c/a\u003e veteran who had served as President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams\"\u003eJohn Adams\u003c/a\u003e’ envoy to France and Secretary of State before Adams appointed him to head the court in 1801. Marshall joined the court just weeks before Adams’ successor Thomas Jefferson was set to take over.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eBoth sides had high-powered lawyers to represent them. Representing Maryland was\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e Luther Martin\u003c/a\u003e, the state’s Attorney General, who had served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Martin had famously walked out of the Constitutional Convention proceedings because he opposed the creation of a strong central government.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking on behalf of the bank was\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/daniel-webster\"\u003e Daniel Webster\u003c/a\u003e, an attorney and skilled orator who served in both the U.S. House and the Senate in his career, and was an advocate of a strong, activist federal government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eMartin argued that because the Constitution didn’t explicitly say that Congress could create a bank, it didn’t have authority. He cited the\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-x\"\u003e 10th Amendment\u003c/a\u003e, which says that any powers that the Constitution doesn’t delegate to the federal government, or prohibit the states from using, are reserved for the states or the American people. “We insist that the only safe rule is the plain letter of the Constitution,” he said, according to a\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/3fJBHmO\"\u003e transcript\u003c/a\u003e of the hearing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eWebster, in turn, argued that\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-i/clauses/754\"\u003e Article I, Section 8\u003c/a\u003e of the U.S. Constitution, which gave Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out some power that the Constitution does spell out, was sufficient authority. Creating the Bank of the United States, Webster argued, was necessary and proper for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes, borrowing money, supporting armed forces, regulating commerce, and other crucial functions of the government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the question of whether or not Maryland or another state could tax the federal bank, Webster said cited the Constitution’s\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/31#:~:text=This%20Constitution%2C%20and%20the%20Laws,Constitution%20or%20Laws%20of%20any\"\u003e Article VI,\u003c/a\u003e which states that laws enacted by Congress “shall be the supreme law of the land,” and said it prohibited states from passing any legislation “which shall be repugnant to a law of the United States.”\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eThe Marshall Court Verdict\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the oral arguments were completed, Marshall and his fellow justices took only a few days to render their unanimous ruling, in which they adopted Webster’s position and rejected Martin’s reasoning. Marshall wrote the court’s\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003e opinion\u003c/a\u003e himself, as he usually did, and read it aloud to a packed courtroom.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends,” Marshall said. “It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confiding the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAdditionally, Marshall wrote, states “have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution the powers vested in the general government. This is, we think, the unavoidable consequence of that supremacy which the constitution has declared.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eSignificance of McCulloch v. Maryland\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough McCulloch v. Maryland gave the federal government wide-ranging authority, even the ruling wasn’t enough to protect the second Bank of the United States from its political opposition. In 1832, President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson\"\u003eAndrew Jackson\u003c/a\u003e, a vehement opponent of the bank, ordered that the federal government’s deposits be withdrawn and deposited in state banks. This order caused the national bank to lose a lot of its power and influence. \u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1834, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against renewing the bank’s charter, and it faded from existence. However, in the early 1900s, a succession of banking crises prompted Congress to revise the idea of a national bank, and in 1913, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreserve.gov/\"\u003e Federal Reserve System\u003c/a\u003e was created.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eUltimately, McCulloch v. Maryland made possible the rise of what some have labeled “\u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003ethe administrative state\u003c/a\u003e,” in which the government employs officials to oversee many aspects of American life, from environmental issues to labor disputes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\t\t\u003cdiv class=\"sb-featured-content\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/supreme-court-decision-cases\" class=\"sb-featured-content__link\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__text\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__term\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Government and Politics\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__title\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSteps the Supreme Court Takes to Reach a Decision\t\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__cta\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRead More\t\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\n\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__background\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1024\u0026amp;height=576\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., the United States, as shown in February 2022.\" srcset=\"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=300 300w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1024 1024w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1536 1536w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=2048 2048w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1920 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" /\u003e\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\t\t\t\u003c/a\u003e\n\t\t\u003c/div\u003e\n\t\t\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eSources\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003eU.S. Supreme Court, Opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“McCulloch v. Maryland (1819),”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003eConstitutional Rights Foundation\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20575880M/Reports_of_Cases_Argued_and_Adjudged_in_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States._February_Term_...\"\u003eReports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, February Term, 1819\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e,\u003c/em\u003e\u0026nbsp;Henry Wheaton,\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=PmxqT9NrAzIC\u0026amp;pg=PA374\u0026amp;dq=%E2%80%9CWe+insist,+that+the+only+safe+rule+is+the+plain+letter+of+the+Constitution\u0026amp;hl=en\u0026amp;newbks=1\u0026amp;newbks_redir=0\u0026amp;sa=X\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwia2v2ngePwAhXMFlkFHeL7AYQQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage\u0026amp;q=%20%22a%20bank%20is%20a%20necessary%20and%20proper%22\u0026amp;f=false\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Spirit of the Constitution: John Marshall and the 200-year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=1\u0026amp;printsec=frontcover\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e, by\u0026nbsp;David S. Schwartz,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=0\"\u003eOxford University Press\u003c/a\u003e, 2019.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003eWilliam \u0026amp; Mary University Law School\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Luther Martin,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003eTeaching American History\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“McCulloch v. Maryland Case Summary: What You Need to Know”\u0026nbsp;by\u0026nbsp;Laura Temme, \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003eFindLaw.com\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n","protected":false,"blocks":[{"clientId":"fc53defd-277b-42ec-ba4f-36bb0496c059","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"On March 6, 1819, the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts\"\u003eSupreme Court \u003c/a\u003eruled in\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/2QL3j2q\"\u003e McCulloch v. Maryland\u003c/a\u003e that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t explicitly spelled out in the document.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"4546ef9a-9d7f-4c5d-8e06-b3155f274569","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"That decision made it possible for the federal government to expand dramatically over the next two centuries, and to take on responsibilities that the nation’s founders couldn’t have envisioned. Without McCulloch v. Maryland, Congress wouldn’t have been able to create the \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal\"\u003eNew Deal\u003c/a\u003e or\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/social-security-act\"\u003e Social Security\u003c/a\u003e in the 1930s, or enact legislation such as the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act\"\u003e Civil Rights Act of 1964\u003c/a\u003e and the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/heres-why-the-affordable-care-act-is-so-controversial-video\"\u003e Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act\u003c/a\u003e in 2010.\u0026nbsp;","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"057db655-b99e-4aab-ae96-588fdb94a902","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Conflict Over a National Bank","level":2,"id":"conflict-over-a-national-bank"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"fbc6d246-8f47-49ed-a32a-0b0faa11df55","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"The controversy that led to the Supreme Court decision actually began several decades before the lawsuit was even filed. As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/first-bank-of-the-us\"\u003eFederal Reserve History \u003c/a\u003ewebsite details, in 1790, the new nation’s first-ever Secretary of the Treasury,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/alexander-hamilton\"\u003e Alexander Hamilton\u003c/a\u003e, wrote a report for Congress in which he advocated creation of a federal bank. Hamilton argued that a central, government-controlled financial institution, similar to the Bank of England, was important for stabilizing the young nation’s economy. He envisioned the bank issuing paper money, providing a safe place to keep public funds, collecting tax revenues, and paying government debts. He also thought it could handle private-sector commercial transactions as well.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"846929bc-cf08-4264-99b4-24bb5486f9e6","name":"history/video","attributes":{"platformId":"607509059997","contentRating":"TV-PG","duration":0,"title":"Alexander Hamilton","disableAutoplay":false,"description":"Alexander Hamilton's support of Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the 1800 U.S. presidential election eventually led to his own demise. Find out more about the first Secretary of the Treasury in this video.","pplId":["178891"],"restrictionId":0,"publicUrl":"https://link.theplatform.com/s/xc6n8B/media/NctG0N3XxTDQ","rating":"TV-PG","poster":"https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/806/807/BRAND_THC_BSFC_178891_SFM_000_2997_15_20150113_00_FIX_HD.jpg"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"d9925928-a4a4-4637-ac0b-7874d4e72bd3","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Hamilton’s idea faced strong opposition from critics such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson\"\u003e Thomas Jefferson\u003c/a\u003e, who were afraid that a federal bank would become a financial monopoly that undermined state banks. They also feared that it would favor financiers and merchants over farmers, who usually were debtors. Jefferson argued that the Constitution didn’t give the federal government the authority to form corporations such as banks. But in the end, Hamilton’s argument persuaded enough members of Congress to gain passage, and President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington\"\u003eGeorge Washington\u003c/a\u003e signed the bill creating a national bank into law in 1791.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9d48ce8d-2b99-4de7-8851-2b3bea8b729c","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"That same year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/bank-of-the-united-states\"\u003e first Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e opened in Philadelphia, and branches subsequently were established in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. The new bank was a public-private institution, with the federal government initially owning $2 million of its stock and private investors holding the other $8 million. But the controversy over the bank continued, and when its charter came up for renewal in 1811, it was narrowly defeated in Congress.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9bf34960-3cb9-40db-9bce-5388027e3edc","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"After the War of 1812, however, the U.S. government again found itself heavily in debt, and private-sector financiers such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-jacob-astor-is-born\"\u003e John Jacob Astor\u003c/a\u003e joined with politicians such as Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-politics/john-c-calhoun\"\u003eJohn C. Calhoun\u003c/a\u003e to advocate for creation of another federal bank. ","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"479b06a3-407c-4511-889e-604e53e260e7","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"In 1816, Congress finally gave in, and the following year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/second-bank-of-the-us\"\u003e second Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e reopened in Philadelphia. The new bank was much more far-reaching in scope than its predecessor, providing extensive credit to farmers and businesses and financing the shipping of goods and agricultural crops both to domestic and foreign markets. The new bank was one of the biggest companies in the nation, and its clout enabled it to control the interest rates that other banks could charge to borrowers.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"b642e9b0-e926-4b2f-aa2f-d352d0a4d449","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Maryland Attempts to Tax the Second Bank of the United States","level":2,"id":"maryland-attempts-to-tax-the-second-bank-of-the-united-states"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9360721d-e883-43d0-a1ed-1af22eb5b37f","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"But there was still a lot of opposition. In 1818, Maryland legislators passed a law imposing a stamp tax on currency issued by second Bank of the United States, in an effort to hinder it from doing business. In response, a cashier at the bank’s Baltimore branch, James W. McCulloch, refused to pay the tax. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003ethen sued McCulloch\u003c/a\u003e for $110, the penalty in the law for circulating unstamped banknotes in Maryland.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"19e88137-80c6-4cf5-b26a-5ae4851ec960","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"State officials won their case in the Maryland courts, which led the bank to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which began to hear arguments in the case on Feb. 22, 1819, in a courtroom \u003ca href=\"https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/senate-wing/old-supreme-court-chamber#:~:text=The%20Basics\u0026amp;text=The%20Old%20Supreme%20Court%20Chamber,Court%20from%201810%20until%201860.\"\u003e in the basement of the U.S. Capitol\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"12494c8a-e537-4997-89e6-b62c7cce7910","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Presiding over then-seven-member court was the nation’s fourth Chief Justice,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/john-marshall\"\u003e John Marshall\u003c/a\u003e. Marshall was a \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history\"\u003eRevolutionary War\u003c/a\u003e veteran who had served as President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams\"\u003eJohn Adams\u003c/a\u003e’ envoy to France and Secretary of State before Adams appointed him to head the court in 1801. Marshall joined the court just weeks before Adams’ successor Thomas Jefferson was set to take over.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"21b5632a-56b2-40cb-afbd-bee02e40d77b","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Both sides had high-powered lawyers to represent them. Representing Maryland was\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e Luther Martin\u003c/a\u003e, the state’s Attorney General, who had served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Martin had famously walked out of the Constitutional Convention proceedings because he opposed the creation of a strong central government.\u0026nbsp;","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"aeb73aa6-3938-4f21-8c3a-0c3a538f1aed","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Speaking on behalf of the bank was\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/daniel-webster\"\u003e Daniel Webster\u003c/a\u003e, an attorney and skilled orator who served in both the U.S. House and the Senate in his career, and was an advocate of a strong, activist federal government.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"3f9901f7-322e-4c50-8eaa-269d02f3d10d","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Martin argued that because the Constitution didn’t explicitly say that Congress could create a bank, it didn’t have authority. He cited the\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-x\"\u003e 10th Amendment\u003c/a\u003e, which says that any powers that the Constitution doesn’t delegate to the federal government, or prohibit the states from using, are reserved for the states or the American people. “We insist that the only safe rule is the plain letter of the Constitution,” he said, according to a\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/3fJBHmO\"\u003e transcript\u003c/a\u003e of the hearing.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"a4520909-b35e-406c-9413-b5b70fc9c949","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Webster, in turn, argued that\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-i/clauses/754\"\u003e Article I, Section 8\u003c/a\u003e of the U.S. Constitution, which gave Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out some power that the Constitution does spell out, was sufficient authority. Creating the Bank of the United States, Webster argued, was necessary and proper for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes, borrowing money, supporting armed forces, regulating commerce, and other crucial functions of the government.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"b9827c50-27ca-4915-a6da-1187481ae936","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"On the question of whether or not Maryland or another state could tax the federal bank, Webster said cited the Constitution’s\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/31#:~:text=This%20Constitution%2C%20and%20the%20Laws,Constitution%20or%20Laws%20of%20any\"\u003e Article VI,\u003c/a\u003e which states that laws enacted by Congress “shall be the supreme law of the land,” and said it prohibited states from passing any legislation “which shall be repugnant to a law of the United States.”\u0026nbsp;","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"e2fdc166-ee80-4100-91d7-2de94c911099","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"The Marshall Court Verdict","level":2,"id":"the-marshall-court-verdict"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"05962345-b2a6-46d8-bc2c-60a901dbf510","name":"history/video","attributes":{"platformId":"1119241795920","duration":258,"contentRating":"TV-PG","title":"The Legislative Branch","disableAutoplay":false,"description":"How did the legislative branch of the U.S. government come to be? How does Congress work? And how does a bill get passed?","pplId":["211105"],"restrictionId":0,"publicUrl":"https://link.theplatform.com/s/xc6n8B/media/i9fdhbAidgXK","rating":"TV-PG","poster":"https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/385/159/BRANDHD2398_THC_HOSF_211105_SFM_000_2398_15_20171214_00_HD.jpg"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9da23cf8-1681-4e20-a389-0def1611db37","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"After the oral arguments were completed, Marshall and his fellow justices took only a few days to render their unanimous ruling, in which they adopted Webster’s position and rejected Martin’s reasoning. Marshall wrote the court’s\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003e opinion\u003c/a\u003e himself, as he usually did, and read it aloud to a packed courtroom.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"f5b3c9ca-8665-45df-9c60-5d5a3dded8c9","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends,” Marshall said. “It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confiding the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end.”","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"0166f6b3-4549-4200-808b-634b2e76bfa6","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Additionally, Marshall wrote, states “have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution the powers vested in the general government. This is, we think, the unavoidable consequence of that supremacy which the constitution has declared.”","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"01b3a0b6-2d9d-48dd-86f5-e1c5cd00442d","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Significance of McCulloch v. Maryland","level":2,"id":"significance-of-mcculloch-v-maryland"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"0b6ec718-44cc-460c-8798-07214b413131","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Although McCulloch v. Maryland gave the federal government wide-ranging authority, even the ruling wasn’t enough to protect the second Bank of the United States from its political opposition. In 1832, President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson\"\u003eAndrew Jackson\u003c/a\u003e, a vehement opponent of the bank, ordered that the federal government’s deposits be withdrawn and deposited in state banks. This order caused the national bank to lose a lot of its power and influence. ","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"5e9c2d94-b980-4ad6-8e89-6d228b2a3ade","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"In 1834, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against renewing the bank’s charter, and it faded from existence. However, in the early 1900s, a succession of banking crises prompted Congress to revise the idea of a national bank, and in 1913, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreserve.gov/\"\u003e Federal Reserve System\u003c/a\u003e was created.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"c7c668a0-c425-4907-b94e-ec6be7b175a4","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Ultimately, McCulloch v. Maryland made possible the rise of what some have labeled “\u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003ethe administrative state\u003c/a\u003e,” in which the government employs officials to oversee many aspects of American life, from environmental issues to labor disputes.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"f29f2b0f-3fbd-43fc-bda8-c167ffe2c2bd","name":"corpnews-blocks/featured-content","attributes":{"id":24995,"featured_media":24996,"title":"Steps the Supreme Court Takes to Reach a Decision","excerpt":"From accepting a case to issuing a ruling, this is the process the nine Supreme Court justices follow in considering a case and reaching a decision.","slug":"supreme-court-decision-cases","featured_media_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1024\u0026height=576","type":"story"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"2f1f56a0-fe44-4f5a-9120-f11ac5d79ae1","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Sources","level":2,"id":"sources"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"a2d58aeb-3cd5-46a3-b53c-664a6bbd1ca3","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003eU.S. Supreme Court, Opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9d7ab03d-067f-4df4-8ba3-d3d265fc0d3e","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“McCulloch v. Maryland (1819),”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003eConstitutional Rights Foundation\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"c4a7ea10-9870-4c15-973e-773f2c2aeae2","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20575880M/Reports_of_Cases_Argued_and_Adjudged_in_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States._February_Term_...\"\u003eReports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, February Term, 1819\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e,\u003c/em\u003e\u0026nbsp;Henry Wheaton,","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"34ec06a6-62bd-457e-813b-a90b19e3a85b","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=PmxqT9NrAzIC\u0026amp;pg=PA374\u0026amp;dq=%E2%80%9CWe+insist,+that+the+only+safe+rule+is+the+plain+letter+of+the+Constitution\u0026amp;hl=en\u0026amp;newbks=1\u0026amp;newbks_redir=0\u0026amp;sa=X\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwia2v2ngePwAhXMFlkFHeL7AYQQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage\u0026amp;q=%20%22a%20bank%20is%20a%20necessary%20and%20proper%22\u0026amp;f=false\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"6272cea7-633d-4408-8ff9-5e4fa259e91a","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003cem\u003eThe Spirit of the Constitution: John Marshall and the 200-year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=1\u0026amp;printsec=frontcover\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e, by\u0026nbsp;David S. Schwartz,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=0\"\u003eOxford University Press\u003c/a\u003e, 2019.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"4aa35a33-95ab-4a8c-8e0b-d464f720699d","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003eWilliam \u0026amp; Mary University Law School\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"b2b224aa-be63-4c31-9d5b-5aa4214b33ef","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"578a7911-8cbf-4a04-8fed-f5e2d5acc34a","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“Luther Martin,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003eTeaching American History\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"1012440b-1031-4ba8-be37-3aa985f0a03b","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"c12ecdb6-6498-45b4-8137-70a3d580b66d","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“McCulloch v. Maryland Case Summary: What You Need to Know”\u0026nbsp;by\u0026nbsp;Laura Temme, \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003eFindLaw.com\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On March 6, 1819, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in McCulloch v. Maryland that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t […]","protected":false},"featured_media":9147,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"video_platform_id":"","video_duration":0,"video_content_rating":"","video_disable_autoplay":false,"subhead":"","exclude_from_rss":false,"distribute_scheduled_post":[],"curated_related_posts":"","disable_related_posts":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"article_type":[],"story_byline":[406],"attribute":[4],"story_category":[99],"class_list":["post-9146","topic","type-topic","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","story_byline-history","attribute-law_and_government","story_category-united-states-constitution"],"prepublish_checks":{},"article_type_meta":"","tags_meta":"","disable_interrupter":"","primary_term":null,"video_thumbnail":false,"hide_on_google_news":false,"yoast_head_json":{"title":"McCulloch v. Maryland - Summary, Decision \u0026 Significance","description":"McCulloch v. Maryland was a landmark Supreme Court case from 1819. The court’s ruling asserted national supremacy over state authority.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"McCulloch v. Maryland - Summary, Decision \u0026 Significance","og_description":"McCulloch v. Maryland was a landmark Supreme Court case from 1819. The court’s ruling asserted national supremacy over state authority.","og_url":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","og_site_name":"HISTORY","article_modified_time":"2023-07-28T20:35:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","type":"image/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"McCulloch v. Maryland - Summary, Decision \u0026 Significance","twitter_description":"McCulloch v. Maryland was a landmark Supreme Court case from 1819. The court’s ruling asserted national supremacy over state authority.","twitter_image":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","url":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","name":"McCulloch v. Maryland - Summary, Decision \u0026 Significance","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.history.com#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","datePublished":"2009-11-09T14:24:14+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T20:35:51+00:00","description":"McCulloch v. Maryland was a landmark Supreme Court case from 1819. The court’s ruling asserted national supremacy over state authority.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland/#primaryimage","url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","contentUrl":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"HISTORY: McCulloch v. Maryland"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.history.com"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Topics","item":"https://www.history.com/topics"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"McCulloch v. Maryland"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://www.history.com#website","url":"https://www.history.com","name":"HISTORY","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://www.history.com/search/{search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.history.com/#/schema/person/ce40b8ce6442fc34caf39cda16d55052","name":"Matt Mullen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https://www.history.com/#/schema/person/image/","url":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/738badf6c71da74a9b2c9381c64b4887?s=96\u0026d=mm\u0026r=g","contentUrl":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/738badf6c71da74a9b2c9381c64b4887?s=96\u0026d=mm\u0026r=g","caption":"Matt Mullen"},"url":"https://www.history.com/author/mattmullen"}]},"news_article_schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"McCulloch v. Maryland - Summary, Decision \u0026 Significance","description":"McCulloch v. Maryland was a landmark Supreme Court case from 1819. The court’s ruling asserted national supremacy over state authority.","url":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland/","thumbnailUrl":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","datePublished":"2009-11-09 14:24:14","dateModified":"2023-07-28 20:35:51","articleSection":"U.S. Constitution","creator":[],"keywords":[],"author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.history.com/#/schema/person/ce40b8ce6442fc34caf39cda16d55052","name":"Matt Mullen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https://www.history.com/#/schema/person/image/","url":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/738badf6c71da74a9b2c9381c64b4887?s=96\u0026d=mm\u0026r=g","contentUrl":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/738badf6c71da74a9b2c9381c64b4887?s=96\u0026d=mm\u0026r=g","caption":"Matt Mullen"},"url":"https://www.history.com/author/mattmullen"}},"video_schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Alexander Hamilton","description":"Alexander Hamilton's support of Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the 1800 U.S. presidential election eventually led to his own demise. Find out more about the first Secretary of the Treasury in this video.","thumbnailUrl":["https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/806/807/BRAND_THC_BSFC_178891_SFM_000_2997_15_20150113_00_FIX_HD.jpg"],"duration":0,"embedUrl":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland/"}}},"posts":[{"id":9146,"date":"2009-11-09T14:24:14","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T14:24:14","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-07-28T20:35:51","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T20:35:51","slug":"mcculloch-v-maryland","status":"publish","type":"topic","link":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","title":{"rendered":"McCulloch v. Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u003cp\u003eOn March 6, 1819, the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts\"\u003eSupreme Court \u003c/a\u003eruled in\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/2QL3j2q\"\u003e McCulloch v. Maryland\u003c/a\u003e that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t explicitly spelled out in the document.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat decision made it possible for the federal government to expand dramatically over the next two centuries, and to take on responsibilities that the nation’s founders couldn’t have envisioned. Without McCulloch v. Maryland, Congress wouldn’t have been able to create the \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal\"\u003eNew Deal\u003c/a\u003e or\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/social-security-act\"\u003e Social Security\u003c/a\u003e in the 1930s, or enact legislation such as the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act\"\u003e Civil Rights Act of 1964\u003c/a\u003e and the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/heres-why-the-affordable-care-act-is-so-controversial-video\"\u003e Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act\u003c/a\u003e in 2010.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eConflict Over a National Bank\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe controversy that led to the Supreme Court decision actually began several decades before the lawsuit was even filed. As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/first-bank-of-the-us\"\u003eFederal Reserve History \u003c/a\u003ewebsite details, in 1790, the new nation’s first-ever Secretary of the Treasury,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/alexander-hamilton\"\u003e Alexander Hamilton\u003c/a\u003e, wrote a report for Congress in which he advocated creation of a federal bank. Hamilton argued that a central, government-controlled financial institution, similar to the Bank of England, was important for stabilizing the young nation’s economy. He envisioned the bank issuing paper money, providing a safe place to keep public funds, collecting tax revenues, and paying government debts. He also thought it could handle private-sector commercial transactions as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eHamilton’s idea faced strong opposition from critics such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson\"\u003e Thomas Jefferson\u003c/a\u003e, who were afraid that a federal bank would become a financial monopoly that undermined state banks. They also feared that it would favor financiers and merchants over farmers, who usually were debtors. Jefferson argued that the Constitution didn’t give the federal government the authority to form corporations such as banks. But in the end, Hamilton’s argument persuaded enough members of Congress to gain passage, and President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington\"\u003eGeorge Washington\u003c/a\u003e signed the bill creating a national bank into law in 1791.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat same year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/bank-of-the-united-states\"\u003e first Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e opened in Philadelphia, and branches subsequently were established in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. The new bank was a public-private institution, with the federal government initially owning $2 million of its stock and private investors holding the other $8 million. But the controversy over the bank continued, and when its charter came up for renewal in 1811, it was narrowly defeated in Congress.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the War of 1812, however, the U.S. government again found itself heavily in debt, and private-sector financiers such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-jacob-astor-is-born\"\u003e John Jacob Astor\u003c/a\u003e joined with politicians such as Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-politics/john-c-calhoun\"\u003eJohn C. Calhoun\u003c/a\u003e to advocate for creation of another federal bank. \u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1816, Congress finally gave in, and the following year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/second-bank-of-the-us\"\u003e second Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e reopened in Philadelphia. The new bank was much more far-reaching in scope than its predecessor, providing extensive credit to farmers and businesses and financing the shipping of goods and agricultural crops both to domestic and foreign markets. The new bank was one of the biggest companies in the nation, and its clout enabled it to control the interest rates that other banks could charge to borrowers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eMaryland Attempts to Tax the Second Bank of the United States\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut there was still a lot of opposition. In 1818, Maryland legislators passed a law imposing a stamp tax on currency issued by second Bank of the United States, in an effort to hinder it from doing business. In response, a cashier at the bank’s Baltimore branch, James W. McCulloch, refused to pay the tax. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003ethen sued McCulloch\u003c/a\u003e for $110, the penalty in the law for circulating unstamped banknotes in Maryland.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eState officials won their case in the Maryland courts, which led the bank to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which began to hear arguments in the case on Feb. 22, 1819, in a courtroom \u003ca href=\"https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/senate-wing/old-supreme-court-chamber#:~:text=The%20Basics\u0026amp;text=The%20Old%20Supreme%20Court%20Chamber,Court%20from%201810%20until%201860.\"\u003e in the basement of the U.S. Capitol\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003ePresiding over then-seven-member court was the nation’s fourth Chief Justice,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/john-marshall\"\u003e John Marshall\u003c/a\u003e. Marshall was a \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history\"\u003eRevolutionary War\u003c/a\u003e veteran who had served as President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams\"\u003eJohn Adams\u003c/a\u003e’ envoy to France and Secretary of State before Adams appointed him to head the court in 1801. Marshall joined the court just weeks before Adams’ successor Thomas Jefferson was set to take over.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eBoth sides had high-powered lawyers to represent them. Representing Maryland was\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e Luther Martin\u003c/a\u003e, the state’s Attorney General, who had served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Martin had famously walked out of the Constitutional Convention proceedings because he opposed the creation of a strong central government.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking on behalf of the bank was\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/daniel-webster\"\u003e Daniel Webster\u003c/a\u003e, an attorney and skilled orator who served in both the U.S. House and the Senate in his career, and was an advocate of a strong, activist federal government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eMartin argued that because the Constitution didn’t explicitly say that Congress could create a bank, it didn’t have authority. He cited the\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-x\"\u003e 10th Amendment\u003c/a\u003e, which says that any powers that the Constitution doesn’t delegate to the federal government, or prohibit the states from using, are reserved for the states or the American people. “We insist that the only safe rule is the plain letter of the Constitution,” he said, according to a\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/3fJBHmO\"\u003e transcript\u003c/a\u003e of the hearing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eWebster, in turn, argued that\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-i/clauses/754\"\u003e Article I, Section 8\u003c/a\u003e of the U.S. Constitution, which gave Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out some power that the Constitution does spell out, was sufficient authority. Creating the Bank of the United States, Webster argued, was necessary and proper for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes, borrowing money, supporting armed forces, regulating commerce, and other crucial functions of the government.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the question of whether or not Maryland or another state could tax the federal bank, Webster said cited the Constitution’s\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/31#:~:text=This%20Constitution%2C%20and%20the%20Laws,Constitution%20or%20Laws%20of%20any\"\u003e Article VI,\u003c/a\u003e which states that laws enacted by Congress “shall be the supreme law of the land,” and said it prohibited states from passing any legislation “which shall be repugnant to a law of the United States.”\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eThe Marshall Court Verdict\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the oral arguments were completed, Marshall and his fellow justices took only a few days to render their unanimous ruling, in which they adopted Webster’s position and rejected Martin’s reasoning. Marshall wrote the court’s\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003e opinion\u003c/a\u003e himself, as he usually did, and read it aloud to a packed courtroom.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends,” Marshall said. “It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confiding the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAdditionally, Marshall wrote, states “have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution the powers vested in the general government. This is, we think, the unavoidable consequence of that supremacy which the constitution has declared.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eSignificance of McCulloch v. Maryland\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough McCulloch v. Maryland gave the federal government wide-ranging authority, even the ruling wasn’t enough to protect the second Bank of the United States from its political opposition. In 1832, President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson\"\u003eAndrew Jackson\u003c/a\u003e, a vehement opponent of the bank, ordered that the federal government’s deposits be withdrawn and deposited in state banks. This order caused the national bank to lose a lot of its power and influence. \u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1834, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against renewing the bank’s charter, and it faded from existence. However, in the early 1900s, a succession of banking crises prompted Congress to revise the idea of a national bank, and in 1913, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreserve.gov/\"\u003e Federal Reserve System\u003c/a\u003e was created.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eUltimately, McCulloch v. Maryland made possible the rise of what some have labeled “\u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003ethe administrative state\u003c/a\u003e,” in which the government employs officials to oversee many aspects of American life, from environmental issues to labor disputes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\t\t\u003cdiv class=\"sb-featured-content\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/news/supreme-court-decision-cases\" class=\"sb-featured-content__link\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__text\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__term\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tU.S. Government and Politics\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__title\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSteps the Supreme Court Takes to Reach a Decision\t\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__cta\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRead More\t\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\n\t\t\t\t\u003cspan class=\"sb-featured-content__background\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1024\u0026amp;height=576\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., the United States, as shown in February 2022.\" srcset=\"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=300 300w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1024 1024w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1536 1536w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=2048 2048w, https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1920 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" /\u003e\t\t\t\t\u003c/span\u003e\n\t\t\t\u003c/a\u003e\n\t\t\u003c/div\u003e\n\t\t\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"\u003eSources\u003c/h2\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003eU.S. Supreme Court, Opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“McCulloch v. Maryland (1819),”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003eConstitutional Rights Foundation\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20575880M/Reports_of_Cases_Argued_and_Adjudged_in_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States._February_Term_...\"\u003eReports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, February Term, 1819\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e,\u003c/em\u003e\u0026nbsp;Henry Wheaton,\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=PmxqT9NrAzIC\u0026amp;pg=PA374\u0026amp;dq=%E2%80%9CWe+insist,+that+the+only+safe+rule+is+the+plain+letter+of+the+Constitution\u0026amp;hl=en\u0026amp;newbks=1\u0026amp;newbks_redir=0\u0026amp;sa=X\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwia2v2ngePwAhXMFlkFHeL7AYQQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage\u0026amp;q=%20%22a%20bank%20is%20a%20necessary%20and%20proper%22\u0026amp;f=false\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Spirit of the Constitution: John Marshall and the 200-year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=1\u0026amp;printsec=frontcover\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e, by\u0026nbsp;David S. Schwartz,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=0\"\u003eOxford University Press\u003c/a\u003e, 2019.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003eWilliam \u0026amp; Mary University Law School\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Luther Martin,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003eTeaching American History\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e“McCulloch v. Maryland Case Summary: What You Need to Know”\u0026nbsp;by\u0026nbsp;Laura Temme, \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003eFindLaw.com\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n","protected":false,"blocks":[{"clientId":"fc53defd-277b-42ec-ba4f-36bb0496c059","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"On March 6, 1819, the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts\"\u003eSupreme Court \u003c/a\u003eruled in\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/2QL3j2q\"\u003e McCulloch v. Maryland\u003c/a\u003e that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t explicitly spelled out in the document.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"4546ef9a-9d7f-4c5d-8e06-b3155f274569","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"That decision made it possible for the federal government to expand dramatically over the next two centuries, and to take on responsibilities that the nation’s founders couldn’t have envisioned. Without McCulloch v. Maryland, Congress wouldn’t have been able to create the \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/new-deal\"\u003eNew Deal\u003c/a\u003e or\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/social-security-act\"\u003e Social Security\u003c/a\u003e in the 1930s, or enact legislation such as the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act\"\u003e Civil Rights Act of 1964\u003c/a\u003e and the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/heres-why-the-affordable-care-act-is-so-controversial-video\"\u003e Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act\u003c/a\u003e in 2010.\u0026nbsp;","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"057db655-b99e-4aab-ae96-588fdb94a902","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Conflict Over a National Bank","level":2,"id":"conflict-over-a-national-bank"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"fbc6d246-8f47-49ed-a32a-0b0faa11df55","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"The controversy that led to the Supreme Court decision actually began several decades before the lawsuit was even filed. As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/first-bank-of-the-us\"\u003eFederal Reserve History \u003c/a\u003ewebsite details, in 1790, the new nation’s first-ever Secretary of the Treasury,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/alexander-hamilton\"\u003e Alexander Hamilton\u003c/a\u003e, wrote a report for Congress in which he advocated creation of a federal bank. Hamilton argued that a central, government-controlled financial institution, similar to the Bank of England, was important for stabilizing the young nation’s economy. He envisioned the bank issuing paper money, providing a safe place to keep public funds, collecting tax revenues, and paying government debts. He also thought it could handle private-sector commercial transactions as well.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"846929bc-cf08-4264-99b4-24bb5486f9e6","name":"history/video","attributes":{"platformId":"607509059997","contentRating":"TV-PG","duration":0,"title":"Alexander Hamilton","disableAutoplay":false,"description":"Alexander Hamilton's support of Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr in the 1800 U.S. presidential election eventually led to his own demise. Find out more about the first Secretary of the Treasury in this video.","pplId":["178891"],"restrictionId":0,"publicUrl":"https://link.theplatform.com/s/xc6n8B/media/NctG0N3XxTDQ","rating":"TV-PG","poster":"https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/806/807/BRAND_THC_BSFC_178891_SFM_000_2997_15_20150113_00_FIX_HD.jpg"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"d9925928-a4a4-4637-ac0b-7874d4e72bd3","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Hamilton’s idea faced strong opposition from critics such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson\"\u003e Thomas Jefferson\u003c/a\u003e, who were afraid that a federal bank would become a financial monopoly that undermined state banks. They also feared that it would favor financiers and merchants over farmers, who usually were debtors. Jefferson argued that the Constitution didn’t give the federal government the authority to form corporations such as banks. But in the end, Hamilton’s argument persuaded enough members of Congress to gain passage, and President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/george-washington\"\u003eGeorge Washington\u003c/a\u003e signed the bill creating a national bank into law in 1791.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9d48ce8d-2b99-4de7-8851-2b3bea8b729c","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"That same year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/bank-of-the-united-states\"\u003e first Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e opened in Philadelphia, and branches subsequently were established in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Charleston, Norfolk, Savannah, Washington, D.C. and New Orleans. The new bank was a public-private institution, with the federal government initially owning $2 million of its stock and private investors holding the other $8 million. But the controversy over the bank continued, and when its charter came up for renewal in 1811, it was narrowly defeated in Congress.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9bf34960-3cb9-40db-9bce-5388027e3edc","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"After the War of 1812, however, the U.S. government again found itself heavily in debt, and private-sector financiers such as\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-jacob-astor-is-born\"\u003e John Jacob Astor\u003c/a\u003e joined with politicians such as Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-politics/john-c-calhoun\"\u003eJohn C. Calhoun\u003c/a\u003e to advocate for creation of another federal bank. ","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"479b06a3-407c-4511-889e-604e53e260e7","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"In 1816, Congress finally gave in, and the following year, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/second-bank-of-the-us\"\u003e second Bank of the United States\u003c/a\u003e reopened in Philadelphia. The new bank was much more far-reaching in scope than its predecessor, providing extensive credit to farmers and businesses and financing the shipping of goods and agricultural crops both to domestic and foreign markets. The new bank was one of the biggest companies in the nation, and its clout enabled it to control the interest rates that other banks could charge to borrowers.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"b642e9b0-e926-4b2f-aa2f-d352d0a4d449","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Maryland Attempts to Tax the Second Bank of the United States","level":2,"id":"maryland-attempts-to-tax-the-second-bank-of-the-united-states"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9360721d-e883-43d0-a1ed-1af22eb5b37f","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"But there was still a lot of opposition. In 1818, Maryland legislators passed a law imposing a stamp tax on currency issued by second Bank of the United States, in an effort to hinder it from doing business. In response, a cashier at the bank’s Baltimore branch, James W. McCulloch, refused to pay the tax. The state \u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003ethen sued McCulloch\u003c/a\u003e for $110, the penalty in the law for circulating unstamped banknotes in Maryland.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"19e88137-80c6-4cf5-b26a-5ae4851ec960","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"State officials won their case in the Maryland courts, which led the bank to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which began to hear arguments in the case on Feb. 22, 1819, in a courtroom \u003ca href=\"https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/senate-wing/old-supreme-court-chamber#:~:text=The%20Basics\u0026amp;text=The%20Old%20Supreme%20Court%20Chamber,Court%20from%201810%20until%201860.\"\u003e in the basement of the U.S. Capitol\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"12494c8a-e537-4997-89e6-b62c7cce7910","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Presiding over then-seven-member court was the nation’s fourth Chief Justice,\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/john-marshall\"\u003e John Marshall\u003c/a\u003e. Marshall was a \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/american-revolution-history\"\u003eRevolutionary War\u003c/a\u003e veteran who had served as President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-adams\"\u003eJohn Adams\u003c/a\u003e’ envoy to France and Secretary of State before Adams appointed him to head the court in 1801. Marshall joined the court just weeks before Adams’ successor Thomas Jefferson was set to take over.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"21b5632a-56b2-40cb-afbd-bee02e40d77b","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Both sides had high-powered lawyers to represent them. Representing Maryland was\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e Luther Martin\u003c/a\u003e, the state’s Attorney General, who had served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Martin had famously walked out of the Constitutional Convention proceedings because he opposed the creation of a strong central government.\u0026nbsp;","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"aeb73aa6-3938-4f21-8c3a-0c3a538f1aed","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Speaking on behalf of the bank was\u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/daniel-webster\"\u003e Daniel Webster\u003c/a\u003e, an attorney and skilled orator who served in both the U.S. House and the Senate in his career, and was an advocate of a strong, activist federal government.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"3f9901f7-322e-4c50-8eaa-269d02f3d10d","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Martin argued that because the Constitution didn’t explicitly say that Congress could create a bank, it didn’t have authority. He cited the\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-x\"\u003e 10th Amendment\u003c/a\u003e, which says that any powers that the Constitution doesn’t delegate to the federal government, or prohibit the states from using, are reserved for the states or the American people. “We insist that the only safe rule is the plain letter of the Constitution,” he said, according to a\u003ca href=\"https://bit.ly/3fJBHmO\"\u003e transcript\u003c/a\u003e of the hearing.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"a4520909-b35e-406c-9413-b5b70fc9c949","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Webster, in turn, argued that\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-i/clauses/754\"\u003e Article I, Section 8\u003c/a\u003e of the U.S. Constitution, which gave Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out some power that the Constitution does spell out, was sufficient authority. Creating the Bank of the United States, Webster argued, was necessary and proper for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes, borrowing money, supporting armed forces, regulating commerce, and other crucial functions of the government.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"b9827c50-27ca-4915-a6da-1187481ae936","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"On the question of whether or not Maryland or another state could tax the federal bank, Webster said cited the Constitution’s\u003ca href=\"https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-vi/clauses/31#:~:text=This%20Constitution%2C%20and%20the%20Laws,Constitution%20or%20Laws%20of%20any\"\u003e Article VI,\u003c/a\u003e which states that laws enacted by Congress “shall be the supreme law of the land,” and said it prohibited states from passing any legislation “which shall be repugnant to a law of the United States.”\u0026nbsp;","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"e2fdc166-ee80-4100-91d7-2de94c911099","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"The Marshall Court Verdict","level":2,"id":"the-marshall-court-verdict"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"05962345-b2a6-46d8-bc2c-60a901dbf510","name":"history/video","attributes":{"platformId":"1119241795920","duration":258,"contentRating":"TV-PG","title":"The Legislative Branch","disableAutoplay":false,"description":"How did the legislative branch of the U.S. government come to be? How does Congress work? And how does a bill get passed?","pplId":["211105"],"restrictionId":0,"publicUrl":"https://link.theplatform.com/s/xc6n8B/media/i9fdhbAidgXK","rating":"TV-PG","poster":"https://cropper.watch.aetnd.com/public-content-aetn.video.aetnd.com/video-thumbnails/AETN-History_VMS/385/159/BRANDHD2398_THC_HOSF_211105_SFM_000_2398_15_20171214_00_HD.jpg"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9da23cf8-1681-4e20-a389-0def1611db37","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"After the oral arguments were completed, Marshall and his fellow justices took only a few days to render their unanimous ruling, in which they adopted Webster’s position and rejected Martin’s reasoning. Marshall wrote the court’s\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003e opinion\u003c/a\u003e himself, as he usually did, and read it aloud to a packed courtroom.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"f5b3c9ca-8665-45df-9c60-5d5a3dded8c9","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“The subject is the execution of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially depends,” Marshall said. “It must have been the intention of those who gave these powers, to insure, as far as human prudence could insure, their beneficial execution. This could not be done by confiding the choice of means to such narrow limits as not to leave it in the power of Congress to adopt any which might be appropriate, and which were conducive to the end.”","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"0166f6b3-4549-4200-808b-634b2e76bfa6","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Additionally, Marshall wrote, states “have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution the powers vested in the general government. This is, we think, the unavoidable consequence of that supremacy which the constitution has declared.”","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"01b3a0b6-2d9d-48dd-86f5-e1c5cd00442d","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Significance of McCulloch v. Maryland","level":2,"id":"significance-of-mcculloch-v-maryland"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"0b6ec718-44cc-460c-8798-07214b413131","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Although McCulloch v. Maryland gave the federal government wide-ranging authority, even the ruling wasn’t enough to protect the second Bank of the United States from its political opposition. In 1832, President \u003ca href=\"https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson\"\u003eAndrew Jackson\u003c/a\u003e, a vehement opponent of the bank, ordered that the federal government’s deposits be withdrawn and deposited in state banks. This order caused the national bank to lose a lot of its power and influence. ","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"5e9c2d94-b980-4ad6-8e89-6d228b2a3ade","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"In 1834, the U.S. House of Representatives voted against renewing the bank’s charter, and it faded from existence. However, in the early 1900s, a succession of banking crises prompted Congress to revise the idea of a national bank, and in 1913, the\u003ca href=\"https://www.federalreserve.gov/\"\u003e Federal Reserve System\u003c/a\u003e was created.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"c7c668a0-c425-4907-b94e-ec6be7b175a4","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"Ultimately, McCulloch v. Maryland made possible the rise of what some have labeled “\u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003ethe administrative state\u003c/a\u003e,” in which the government employs officials to oversee many aspects of American life, from environmental issues to labor disputes.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"f29f2b0f-3fbd-43fc-bda8-c167ffe2c2bd","name":"corpnews-blocks/featured-content","attributes":{"id":24995,"featured_media":24996,"title":"Steps the Supreme Court Takes to Reach a Decision","excerpt":"From accepting a case to issuing a ruling, this is the process the nine Supreme Court justices follow in considering a case and reaching a decision.","slug":"supreme-court-decision-cases","featured_media_url":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2022/05/supreme-court-1238771920.jpg?width=1024\u0026height=576","type":"story"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"2f1f56a0-fe44-4f5a-9120-f11ac5d79ae1","name":"core/heading","attributes":{"content":"Sources","level":2,"id":"sources"},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"a2d58aeb-3cd5-46a3-b53c-664a6bbd1ca3","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=false\u0026amp;page=transcript\u0026amp;doc=21\u0026amp;title=Transcript+of+McCulloch+v.+Maryland+%281819%29\"\u003eU.S. Supreme Court, Opinion in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"9d7ab03d-067f-4df4-8ba3-d3d265fc0d3e","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“McCulloch v. Maryland (1819),”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/mcculloch.pdf\"\u003eConstitutional Rights Foundation\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"c4a7ea10-9870-4c15-973e-773f2c2aeae2","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20575880M/Reports_of_Cases_Argued_and_Adjudged_in_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States._February_Term_...\"\u003eReports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States, February Term, 1819\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e,\u003c/em\u003e\u0026nbsp;Henry Wheaton,","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"34ec06a6-62bd-457e-813b-a90b19e3a85b","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=PmxqT9NrAzIC\u0026amp;pg=PA374\u0026amp;dq=%E2%80%9CWe+insist,+that+the+only+safe+rule+is+the+plain+letter+of+the+Constitution\u0026amp;hl=en\u0026amp;newbks=1\u0026amp;newbks_redir=0\u0026amp;sa=X\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwia2v2ngePwAhXMFlkFHeL7AYQQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage\u0026amp;q=%20%22a%20bank%20is%20a%20necessary%20and%20proper%22\u0026amp;f=false\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"6272cea7-633d-4408-8ff9-5e4fa259e91a","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003cem\u003eThe Spirit of the Constitution: John Marshall and the 200-year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=1\u0026amp;printsec=frontcover\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e, by\u0026nbsp;David S. Schwartz,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Spirit_of_the_Constitution/MjGoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en\u0026amp;gbpv=0\"\u003eOxford University Press\u003c/a\u003e, 2019.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"4aa35a33-95ab-4a8c-8e0b-d464f720699d","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“John Marshall, the Great Chief Justice,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003eWilliam \u0026amp; Mary University Law School\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"b2b224aa-be63-4c31-9d5b-5aa4214b33ef","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://law.wm.edu/about/ourhistory/John%20Marshall,%20the%20Great%20Chief%20Justice.php\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"578a7911-8cbf-4a04-8fed-f5e2d5acc34a","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“Luther Martin,”\u0026nbsp;\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003eTeaching American History\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"1012440b-1031-4ba8-be37-3aa985f0a03b","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"\u003ca href=\"https://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/martin_l.html\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]},{"clientId":"c12ecdb6-6498-45b4-8137-70a3d580b66d","name":"core/paragraph","attributes":{"content":"“McCulloch v. Maryland Case Summary: What You Need to Know”\u0026nbsp;by\u0026nbsp;Laura Temme, \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/mcculloch-v--maryland-case-summary--what-you-need-to-know.html\"\u003eFindLaw.com\u003c/a\u003e.","dropCap":false},"innerBlocks":[]}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On March 6, 1819, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in McCulloch v. Maryland that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance, because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren’t […]","protected":false},"featured_media":9147,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"video_platform_id":"","video_duration":0,"video_content_rating":"","video_disable_autoplay":false,"subhead":"","exclude_from_rss":false,"distribute_scheduled_post":[],"curated_related_posts":"","disable_related_posts":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"article_type":[],"story_byline":[406],"attribute":[4],"story_category":[99],"class_list":["post-9146","topic","type-topic","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","story_byline-history","attribute-law_and_government","story_category-united-states-constitution"],"prepublish_checks":{},"article_type_meta":"","tags_meta":"","disable_interrupter":"","primary_term":null,"video_thumbnail":false,"hide_on_google_news":false,"yoast_head_json":{"title":"McCulloch v. 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The court’s ruling asserted national supremacy over state authority.","twitter_image":"https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2009/11/second_bank.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","url":"https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/mcculloch-v-maryland","name":"McCulloch v. 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