470 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



by the Court of Appeals, the highest court of law in that State, 

 and an action having been brought for the enforcement of a 

 penalty against an official of the Maryland branch (United 

 States) bank for a violation of the State law, the defendant one 

 McCuUoch, the cashier of the said branch bank thereupon 

 brought the case (as involving an interpretation of the Federal 

 Constitution) by writ of error before the United States Supreme 

 Court. 



A little reflection will abundantly satisfy the reader that the 

 question involved in this procedure was of the greatest impor- 

 tance, inasmuch as it necessitated certain rational and funda- 

 mental conclusions that had not previously been authoritatively 

 reached and popularly accepted, respecting the nature and power 

 of the Federal Government ; and a definite interpretation of the 

 letter and spirit of certain features of the Federal Constitution 

 which, as the action of the States before noticed demonstrated, 

 had, to say the least, been heretofore regarded as ambiguous. So 

 that, whatever might be the decision of the court, the conse- 

 quences were certain to be most momentous. Thus, if the right 

 of a State to tax which practically involved the right to destroy 

 the instrumentalities of the Federal Government, was denied, 

 then such Government rested on sure foundations. If, on the 

 other hand, to quote the language of the court, " the right of the 

 State to tax the means emyjloyed by the General Government be 

 conceded, the declaration that the Constitution and laws made in 

 pursuance thereof shall be the supreme law of the land is an 

 empty and unmeaning declaration," and the United States, in the 

 sense of a nation, would practically cease to exist. Taking also 

 into account the increase in the number of States that would 

 have to harmonize if anything was accomplished in a new con- 

 stitutional convention, and the number of new antagonizing ele- 

 ments on the part of the several States that had arisen the vexing 

 question of the future tolerance and extension of slavery, which 

 finally eventuated in civil war, the power of Congress to create 

 banking corporations, and the right of the Legislatures of the 

 States to subject them to taxation, and the like and it is very 

 doubtful whether any new Federal Constitution could have been 

 established. As a matter of fact, the Federal Government and 

 the union of the States came nearer disruption and dissolution in 

 1819 than when, forty- two years subsequently, Fort Sumter was 

 fired upon and the flag of the Union forcibly hauled down which 

 latter events are generally regarded as constituting the leading 

 features of the constitutional history of the United States. And 

 this situation was so well recognized by Chief-Justice Marshall 

 (to whom the nation is indebted for its preservation to a greater 

 degree than has been generally recognized) as to draw from him 



