Question

Once granted that Congress has the power to incorporate a bank, why did Chief Justice Marshall find that the state of Maryland could not, without violating the Constitution, tax a branch of that bank?

Answer 1

Because the power to tax is the power to destroy. Laws made in pursuance of theConstitution are supreme over laws of the respective states, and cannot becontrolled by them. The law of the state of Maryland taxing a branch of theNational Bank is repugnant to the federal law.