Grateful American Kids
Constitutional Calendar

March 6: McCulloch v. Maryland

The Supreme Court decided in 1819 that Congress could, under the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article 1 of the Constitution, charter a bank. They also claimed that state governments could not forbid or tax federal government institutions, such as the Second National Bank. Chief Justice John Marshall said, “The States have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burthen, or in any manner control the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress.” His interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause helped to greatly expand the federal government, enabling it to become the strong centralized government we know today.

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