2. Summary Of the Case
Maryland sued McCulloch saying that Maryland had
the power to tax any business in its state and that
the Constitution does not give Congress the power
to create a national bank.
• In a unanimous decision, the Court stated that
Maryland could not tax instruments of the national
government employed in the execution of
constitutional powers.
Maryland put a statute imposing a tax on all banks
operating in Maryland not known by the state.
3. Arguments
For McCulloch- The bank was a legitimate federal function with
which no State may interfere. The Maryland tax on the national
bank, therefore, was unconstitutional.
For Maryland- As a sovereign State, Maryland was vested by its
people with all authority to regulate business and to tax institutions
inside its borders.
4. Supreme Courts Decision
► In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the Supreme Court
unanimously ruled in favor of McCulloch and against the state of
Maryland.
► The Court also rejected Maryland's argument that the Constitution did
not explicitly allow for a national bank.
► The result is a conviction that the 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.
