M'Culloch v. Maryland · ¶41

That a corporation must be considered as a means not less usual, not of higher dignity, not more requiring a particular specification than other means, has been sufficiently proved. If we look to the origin of corporations, to the manner in which they have been framed in that government from which we have derived most of our legal principles, and ideas, or to the uses to which they have been ap-’ plied, we find no reason to suppose that a cbnstitution, omitting, and wisely omitting, 'to enumerate all the means for carrying into execution the great powers vested in government, ought to have specified this. Had it been intended to grant this power as one which, should be distinct and independent, to be exercised in any case whatever, it would have found a place among, the enumerated powers of the government. But being considered merely as a means, to be employed only for the purc.. .. 1…

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