Mccullough V. Maryland Case Analysis

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Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States reads “And to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof” (Constitution (1787), 2015). The ability for the federal government to “bend” the laws to accommodate the needs of the people are what make people leery of a national government with too much power. This quote is referring to implied powers, which will be defined, along with consequences of McCullough v. Maryland, and how that ruling affects the implementation of laws such as the federal minimum wage, which is an example of implied powers. …show more content…

Maryland is the landmark case decided by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819 that is considered to be one of the most significant and important decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Many of the local state-charted banks viewed the Bank of the United States as an interloper on their business practices and tried to tax them for their banking practices. James McCullough, who was a cashier at the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the United States refused to pay the tax that the state of Maryland tried to impose, so they then went to court to battle it out. Two main points were questioned during this court case. Did they states have the right to tax any federal institutions that were within their state borders and was it even legal since the Bank of the United States was never mentioned explicitly in the United States Constitution (Schweikart & Allen, 2007). Chief Justice Marshall stated that to tax one aspect of any federal institution would pave the way for the states to be able to tax every aspect of any federal holdings which would therefore result in the federal government being dependent on the states, which is not how the government system was established. In response to that sound reasoning, Marshall ruled that the tax imposed by the state of Maryland was both void and unconstitutional (McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), 2015). This decision was made using the implied powers spelled out, although not explicitly, in the United States Constitution …show more content…

The United States Constitution does not refer to labor laws or minimum wage pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act was put into place under the “implied powers” gray area. There was a desperate need for guaranteed pay, especially for the men who were head of the household, as well as the limit of hours than can be worked in a week Fair Labor Standards Act (1938), 2015). Even though this act was not a part of the Constitution, it was added to protect human rights and for child labor laws as well. Although establishing a minimum wage was a benefit for many people, it also caused problems with employers and their ability to hire more employees. Due to the required increase in pay, employers were unable to hire as many employees, so therefore in many ways, the Fair Labor Standards Act hurt many American’s chances of employment. Many Americans would have gladly worked for less than minimum wage just to be able to work, but now were unable to due to the new federal law (Schweikart & Allen, 2007). The same issues continue today with the federal minimum continuing to rise. Even though it needs to rise so that Americans can afford the basics which is termed the “cost of living”, it still puts the employer in a position to determine if they need to cut the number of

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