1819.

dred dollars; every penalty aforesaid to be recovered Mulioch by indictment, or action of debt, in the County

V.

State of Maryland.

Feb. 22d-

27th, and

3d.

Court of the county where the offence shall be committed, one half to the informer, and the other half to the use of the State.

And be it enacted, That this act shall be in full force and effect from and after the first day of May

next.

Mr. Webster, for the plaintiff in error," 1. stated, March 1st- that the question whether Congress constitutionally possesses the power to incorporate a bank, might be raised upon this record; and it was in the discretion of the defendant's counsel to agitate it. But it might have been hoped that it was not now to be considered as an open question. It is a question of the utmost magnitude, deeply interesting to the government itself, as well as to individuals. The mere discussion of such a question may most essentially affect the value of a vast amount of private property. We are bound to suppose that the defendant in error is well aware of these consequences, and would not have intimated an intention to agitate such a question, but with a real design to make it a topic of serious discussion, and with a view of demanding upon it the solemn judgment of this Court. This

a This case involving a constitutional question of great public importance, and the sovereign rights of the United States and the State of Maryland; and the government of the United States having directed their Attorney General to appear for the plaintiff in error, the Court dispensed with its general rule, permitting only two counsel to argue for each party.

question arose early after the adoption of the consti-
tution, and was discussed, and settled, as far as legis-
lative decision could settle it, in the first Congress.
The arguments drawn from the constitution in fa-
vour of this power, were stated, and exhausted, in
that discussion. They were exhibited, with charac-
teristic perspicuity and force, by the first Secretary
of the Treasury, in his report to the President of
the United States. The first Congress created and
incorporated a bank. Nearly each succeeding Con-
gress,
if not every one, has acted and legislated on
the presumption of the legal existence of such a
power in the government. Individuals, it is true,
have doubted, or thought otherwise; but it cannot
be shown that either branch of the legislature has,
at any time, expressed an opinion against the existence
of the power. The executive government has acted
upon it; and the courts of law have acted upon it.
Many of those who doubted or denied the existence
of the power, when first attempted to be exercised,
have yielded to the first decision, and acquiesced in
it, as a settled question. When all branches of the
government have thus been acting on the existence
of this power nearly thirty years, it would seem
almost too late to call it in question, unless its re-
pugnancy with the constitution were plain and mani-
fest. Congress, by the constitution, is invested with
certain powers; and, as to the objects, and within
the scope of these powers, it is sovereign. Even
without the aid of the general clause in the constitu-

a Act of February 5th, 1791, c. 84.

1819.

M'Culloch

State of Maryland.

tion, empowering Congress to pass all necessary and proper laws for carrying its powers into execution, V. the grant of powers itself necessarily implies the of all usual and suitable means for the execugrant tion of the powers granted. Congress may declare war; it may consequently carry on war, by armies and navies, and other suitable means and methods of warfare. So it has power to raise a revenue, and to apply it in the support of the government, and defence of the country. It may, of course, use all proper and suitable means, not specially prohibited, in the raising and disbursement of the revenue, And if, in the progress of society and the arts, new means arise, either of carrying on war, or of raising revenue, these new means doubtless would be properly considered as within the grant. Steam frigates, for example, were not in the minds of those who framed the constitution, as among the means of naval warfare; but no one doubts the power of Congress to use them, as means to an authorized end. It is not enough to say, that it does not appear that a bank was in the contemplation of the framers of the constitution. It was not their intention, in these cases, to enumerate particulars. The true view of the subject is, that if it be a fit instrument to an authorized purpose, it may be used, not being specially prohibited. Congress is authorized to pass all laws

necessary and proper" to carry into execution the powers conferred on it. These words, "necessary and proper," in such an instrument, are probably to be considered as synonimous. Necessary powers must, here intend such powers as are suitable and

fitted to the object; such as are best and most useful in relation to the end proposed. If this be not so, and if Congress could use no means but such as were absolutely indispensable to the existence of a granted power, the government would hardly exist; at least, it would be wholly inadequate to the purposes of its formation. A bank is a proper and suitable instrument to assist the operations of the government, in the collection and disbursement of the revenue; in the occasional anticipations of taxes and imposts; and in the regulation of the actual currency, as being a part of the trade and exchange between the States. It is not for this Court to decide whether a bank, or such a bank as this, be the best possible means to aid these purposes of government. Such topics must be left to that discussion which belongs to them in the two houses of Congress. Here, the only question is, whether a bank, in its known and ordinary operations, is capable of being so connected with the finances and revenues of the government, as to be fairly within the discretion of Congress, when selecting means and instruments to execute its powers and perform its duties. A bank is not less the proper subject for the choice of Congress, nor the less constitutional, because it requires to be executed by granting a charter of incorporation. It is not, of itself, unconstitutional in Congress to create a corporation. Corporations are but means. They are not ends and objects of government. No government exists for the purpose of creating corporations as one of the ends of its being. They are institutions established to effect certain beneficial purposes;

1819.

M'Culloch

V.

State of Ma

ryland.

1819.

McCulloch

V.

ryland.

and, as means, take their character generally from their end and object. They are civil or eleemosynary, public or private, according to the object intended by State of Ma- their creation. They are common means, such as all governments use. The State governments create corporations to execute powers confided to their trust, without any specific authority in the State constitutions for that purpose. There is the same reason that Congress should exercise its discretion as to the means by which it must execute the powers conferred upon it. Congress has duties to perform and powers to execute. It has a right to the means by which these duties can be properly and most usefully performed, and these powers executed. Among other means, it has established a bank; and before the act establishing it can be pronounced unconstitutional and void, it must be shown, that a bank has no fair connection with the execution of any power or duty of the national government, and that its creation is consequently a manifest usurpation.

2. The second question is, whether, if the bank be constitutionally created, the State governments have power to tax it? The people of the United States have seen fit to divide sovereignty, and to establish a complex system. They have conferred certain powers on the State Governments, and certain other powers on the National Government. As it was easy to foresee that questions must arise between these governments thus constituted, it became of great moment to determine upon what principle these questions should be decided, and who should decide them. The constitution, therefore, declares, that the