Question

The most significant result of the Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland was that it __________.

Answer 1

The most significant result of this case was that it gave Congress the power to establish a National Bank in the United States. It also denied the power of the states to directly tax any National Bank that operated within its borders. This in turn led to the creation of and execution of a National Bank within the United States.

Answer 2

The most significant result of the Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland was that it established that Congress had the power to establish a national bank (as one of its "implied powers"), and it asserted again that the Constitution's laws are supreme and can't be controlled by the states.

Two years later after the Congress had chartered The Second Bank of the United States (1816), the state of Maryland passed legislation to impose taxes on the bank. The problem originated when James W. McCulloch, a cashier of the Baltimore branch of the bank, refused to pay the tax. In the Court, the state of Maryland appealed that the establishment of a Second Bank was unconstitutional since the Constitution didn't say anything about granting that power to Congress.

However, the case determined that even if such right wasn't specifically stated in the Constitution, it was part of the "implied powers" of the government enunciated in Article I, Section 8, such article lists all the power's congress and the last paragraph asserts that Congress also has the power "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof."

And since the national bank would facilitate the accomplishment of purposes granted to the federal government in the Constitution, such as the collection of taxes and the maintenance of armed forces, Congress had the right to charter a bank. The case also decided that even though the states retained the power of taxation, the Constitution's laws are supreme and can't be controlled by the states.