McCulloch v. Maryland ( 1819) Case which upheld the power of the national government to establish a bank and denied Maryland the power to tax a branch of the bank. Marshall wrote that it was not necessary for the Constitution to expressly authorize the Congress to create a bank since the power to do so was implied from Congress' power of financial matters and from the "necessary and proper" clause in the Constitution. The decision established two principles: implied powers (see federalism button) and "national supremacy" (which denies the states the right to interfere in the constitutional operations of the national government). These help to establish the Constitution as a "living" document.

Paraphrase from: The American Political Dictionary