John Marshall

The federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.

The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.

The power to tax involves the power to destroy.

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. . . . If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each. . . . This is of the very essence of judicial duty.

No political dreamer was ever wild enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the States and compounding the American people into one common mass.

We must never forget that it is a constitution we are expounding.

This provision is made in a constitution, intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.

Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.