1. Explain key cases that helped shape the US Supreme Court, including Marbury versus Madison, McCulloch versus Maryland, and Cherokee Nation versus Georgia. Chapter 7 Section 1

2. Maryland attempts to tax the Second Bank of the US as well as any other banks that were not chartered in Maryland. James McCulloch was the head of the Baltimore division of the Second Bank of the US. John James files the lawsuit. Maryland argues that the Constitution does not have the power to make a bank because it is not within its enumerated powers (powers specifically mentioned in the constitution). The Maryland courts sides with the state. It is appealed to the Supreme Court.

3. John Marshall argues the bank is constitutional even though it was not specifically mentioned in the Constitution (implied powers). In the Constitution, there is a clause called the necessary and proper clause, also known as the elastic clause, also known as implied powers. This clause allows for the bank because it is necessary and proper to the US to have and run a bank on a daily basis.

4. Marshall noted the Constitution gave the federal government the power to collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce and raise armies/navies. The national bank would help the federal government exercise these powers. Opponents to the necessary and proper clause state that it was meant for only the things that were necessary. Marshall held the idea that necessary and proper meant the government could use any method that was convenient for carrying out its powers as long as that method was not expressly forbidden.

5. Furthermore, the federal government was “supreme in its own sphere of action”, meaning a state could not interfere with a federal agency that was exercising it specific constitutional powers within a state’s borders. Taxing the Second Bank of the US is interfering and unconstitutional. This ruling gives to the idea of loose construction of the Constitution. Consent from the people, government needs to act for their benefit. Endure time and adapt