EQ: How did the Marshall Court Strengthen Nationalism.
á Two major Supreme Court Decisions by the Marshall Court made the Federal Government even more powerful. Here they are;
1) McCulloch v Maryland (1819)
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In 1816 the U.S.
Congress created the 2nd National Bank of the United States. Once again strengthening the economic
role of the Feds. Congress used
its elastic clause to pass the law seeing a national bank once again as
necessary.
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Many states saw the Bank
as a powerful entity, one that forced unnecessary economic factors on
them. SO in response Maryland
passed a state law, which levied heavy taxes on the Nation Bank.
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The Feds saw this an
issue in Federalism, so they took Maryland to court to stop the taxes.
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In the decision, the
court ruled that Maryland DID not have the power to pass those taxes on the
Bank. The Court set down two
powerful precedents:
a)
The Congress did have
the power to create the court, therefore strengthening the ELASTIC CLAUSE and a
loose interpretation of the Constitution.
b)
Second they reinforced
the Supremacy Clause. Maryland did
not know who their DADDY was, now they do! Kids taxing parents, ha ha ha!
2) Gibbons v Ogden (1824)
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This case involved a
dispute between a state license on a river way that flowed between NY and
NJ. Ogden had a state license;
Gibbons later obtained a federal license.
Ogden claimed that he had exclusive rights to operate his steamboat
business and the Federal license was null and void. The Marshall Court ruled:
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States can usurp the authority of the
FEDERAL government to regulate interstate commerce. This ruling strengthened the role of the Federal Government
when it came to interstate commerce and do I dare say it; The decision
reinforced the Supremacy Clause, or ÒWhoÕs your daddy?Ó
3) Marbury v Madison (1789)
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Lets not forget the
biggest ruling out of the Marshall Court the case that set down Judicial
Review!
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Without this case there
would be no McCulloch or Gibbons cases!