McCulloch v. Maryland
United States Supreme Court
17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316 (1819)
Congress incorporated the Bank of the United States in 1816, and it opened a Maryland branch the next year. Maryland (plaintiff) then taxed all out-of-state banks operating in the state, a law that, though generally worded, affected only the Bank of the United States. James McCulloch (defendant), head of the Bank's Maryland branch, refused to pay the tax. The Maryland Court of Appeals sided with the state, reasoning the Bank was unconstitutional because the Constitution never expressly authorized Congress to charter one, and the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Whether Congress has implied constitutional power to create a bank and, if so, whether individual states may tax a federally created bank.