f its action. This would seem to result necessarily from its nature. It
is the government of all; its powers are delegated by all; it represents
all and acts for all." However the question had not been left to
reason. "The people have in express terms decided it by saying: 'This
Constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in
pursuance thereof... shall be the supreme Law of the Land.'"

But a Government which is supreme must have the right to choose the
means by which to make its supremacy effective; and indeed, at this
point again the Constitution comes to the aid of reason by declaring
specifically that Congress may make all laws "necessary and proper" for
carrying into execution any of the powers of the General Government.
Counsel for Maryland would read this clause as limiting the right which
it recognized to the choice only of such means of execution as are
indispensable; they would treat the word "necessary" as controlling the
clause and to this they would affix the word "absolutely." "Such is the
character of human language," rejoins the Chief Justice, "that no word
conveys to the mind in all situations, one single definite idea," and
the word "necessary," "like others, is used in various senses," so that
its context becomes most material in determining its significance.

And what is its context on this occasion? "The subject is the execution
of those great powers on which the welfare of a nation essentially
depends." The provision occurs "in a Constitution intended to endure
for ages to come and consequently to be adapted to the various crises of
human affairs." The purpose of the clause therefore is not to impair
the right of Congress "to exercise its best judgment in the selection
of measures to carry into execution the constitutional powers of the
Government," but rather "to remove all doubts respecting the right to
legislate on that vast mass of incidental powers which must be involved
in the Constitution, if that instrument be not a splendid bauble.... 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."

But was the Act of Maryland which taxed the Bank in conflict with the
Act of Congress which established it? If so, must the State yield to
Congress? In approaching this question Marsh