M'Culloch v. Maryland · ¶68

If the States may tax one instrument, employed by the government in the execution of its powers, they may tax any and every other instrument. They may tax the mail; they may tax the mint;.they may tax patent rights; they may tax the papers of the custom-house; they may tax judicial process; they may tax all the means employed by the government, to an excess which would defeat all the ends of government.’ This was not intended by the American people. They did,not design to make their government dependent on the States.

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 17, at 316 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.