M'Culloch v. Maryland · ¶36

. But the argument which most conclusively demonstrates the error of the construction contended for by the counsel for the State of Maryland,.is founded on the intention of the Convention, as manifestéd in the whole clause. To waste time and argument in proving that, without it, Congress might.carry its powers into execution, would be not much less idle than to hold a lighted taper to the sun. As little can it be required to prove, that in the absence of this clause, Congress would have some choice of means. That it might employ those which, in its judgment, would most advantageously effect the object to be accomplished. That any means adapted to the end, any means which tended directly to the execution of the constitutional powers of the government, were in themselves constitutional. This clause, as* construed by the State of Maryland, would abridge, and almost annihilate this useful…

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 17, at 316 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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