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What are implied powers?
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What is the difference between express powers and implied powers?
What is the difference between enumerated and implied powers?
Implied powers are powers of the federal government that go beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, in accordance with the statement in the Constitution that Congress has the power to "make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" the powers enumerated in Article I. Significance: An example from 1819, McCulloch v ...
- Overview
- Key points
- Background of the case
- The Constitutional question at stake
- Decision
- Why does McCulloch v. Maryland matter?
- What do you think?
A quick guide to the background, decision, and impact of McCulloch v. Maryland.
•In the case McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court considered whether Congress had the power to create a national bank and whether the state of Maryland had interfered with congressional powers by taxing the national bank.
•The Supreme Court ruled in favor of McCulloch and found that the state of Maryland had interfered with one of Congress’s implied powers.
After the founding of the United States, one of the first things the new government had to address was the debt the nation had incurred fighting the Revolutionary War. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton came up with a plan to create the Bank of the United States, a national bank, in order to absorb state debts from the war and to create a national currency. But not everyone agreed that the federal government had the power to create a bank.
One of the bank’s most vocal opponents was Thomas Jefferson, who argued that it was not within the federal government’s explicit powers to create a national bank and that doing so was an overreach of federal power. Despite opposition to the bank, Congress passed the first charter of the Bank of the United States in 1791, granting it the power to operate for twenty years.
But when it came time to renew the bank’s charter in 1811, the measure was defeated in Congress by one vote. It would take another five years for Congress to pass the second charter of the Bank of the United States, but in 1816, the national bank was reestablished. Once again, conflict flared over whether Congress had the power to create a national bank.
The government of Maryland did not want a national bank and did not want a branch in Maryland. Nevertheless, the branch opened in 1817. The state of Maryland decided to tax the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the United States in an effort to run it out of business.
The bank’s cashier, James W. McCulloch, refused to pay the tax. In response, the state of Maryland sued him. Both the state trial court and the state supreme court agreed that McCulloch had to pay the tax. McCulloch appealed to the US Supreme Court, which heard the case in 1819.
Check your understanding
The Supreme Court has two conditions for hearing a case: the case needs to be nationally significant, meaning that its outcome will most likely affect the entire country, or it has to deal with a question regarding the Constitution. Since 1803, the Court has had the power of judicial review, the responsibility to determine whether or not a law violates the Constitution.
So, when we ask “What was the Constitutional question in this case?” we are really asking, “What question is the Court trying to answer about how the law interacts with the Constitution?”
For McCulloch v. Maryland, there were two questions the Court was trying to answer:
•Did Congress have the authority to establish the bank under the Constitution?
For the first question, the Supreme Court decided that Congress did have the power to establish a national bank, not as an enumerated, or explicit, power, but as an implied power granted by the Constitution. The Supreme Court found that the Constitution grants Congress the explicit power to levy (or collect) taxes and regulate currency, which means that they need to have a way to do that.
So, even though the Constitution does not explicitly say that the federal government can create a national bank, because Congress needs a national bank in order to levy taxes and regulate currency, the court argued that the power to create a national bank was implied.
Chief Justice Marshall explained the Court’s decision this way:
“The government which has a right to do an act, and has imposed on it the duty of performing that act, must, according to the dictates of reason, be allowed to select the means . . . The power of creating a corporation is never used for its own sake, but for the purpose of effecting something else. No sufficient reason is, therefore, perceived, why it may not pass as incidental to those powers which are expressly given, if it be a direct mode of executing them.”
[What does this mean?]
Check your understanding
McCulloch v. Maryland has had two significant effects on what federalism means for the United States. Federalism is the institutional arrangement in which power is distributed between two relatively independent levels of government: the federal government and the state governments.
First, the federal government has powers that are not listed in the Constitution. The decision in McCulloch v. Maryland enhanced federal power and gave the federal government ways to achieve the responsibilities that were given to it in the Constitution.
What are the potential arguments for and against giving federal laws supremacy over state laws?
Explain what an implied power is in your own words. Name two examples of implied powers the federal government has today.
Implied powers – Powers inferred from the express powers that allow Congress to carry out its functions. Necessary and proper clause – Clause of the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3) setting forth the implied powers of Congress. It states that Congress, in addition to its express powers has the right to make all laws necessary ...
Article I, Section 1: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. The Supreme Court has recognized four general categories of powers belonging to the National Government—enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent.
About. Transcript. The video explains the difference between enumerated and implied powers in the U.S. government. Enumerated powers are clearly listed, like Congress's ability to collect taxes. Implied powers aren't explicitly listed but are assumed, like the Necessary and Proper Clause.
- 6 min
Jan 30, 2023 · Implied Powers: Powers inferred from the express powers given to the federal government in the US Constitution, allowing it to carry out its enumerated powers. Limited Government: A principle in which government power is limited by laws, a constitution, or societal norms, protecting individual liberties.
