What is the importance of the supreme court case McColloch v. Maryland to american government and society?
Most of the expressed powers of Congress are found in Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution. While the powers are clearly stated, custom and usage has changed some of the powers. The last clause of that Article, the so-called elastic clause, is responsible for the modification of the powers of Congress. The clause gives Congress the right to “make all laws necessary and proper.” It stretches the power of Congress. But, what do the words necessary and proper mean? The issue became part of the “strict” versus “loose” interpretation of the Constitution. In 1819 the Supreme Court addressed this problem in McCulloch v Maryland. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. The Court ruled in favor of a loose interpretation. This decision gave the Congress the power to make any laws that were necessary to carry out its expressed powers, as the Court declared
