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In a free government almost all other rights would become worthless if the government possessed power over the private fortune of every citizen.

John Marshall

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John Marshall
Age: 79 †
Born: 1755
Born: September 24
Died: 1835
Died: July 6
Diplomat
Former Chief Justice Of The United States
Judge
Jurist
Lawyer
Politician
Slaveholder
Become
Citizen
Power
Possessed
Government
Fortune
Every
Private
Would
Citizens
Almost
Rights
Free
Worthless

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An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.
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I fear we may live to see another revolution.
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No principle of general law is more universally acknowledged, than the perfect equality of nations. Russia and Geneva have equal rights. It results from this equality, that no one can rightfully impose a rule on another....As no nation can prescribe a rule for others, none can make a law of nations.
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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.
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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.
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The peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional.
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Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.
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The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.
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What are the maxims of Democracy? A strict observance of justice and public faith, and a steady adherence to virtue.
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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.
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When a law is in its nature a contract, when absolute rights have vested under that contract, a repeal of the law cannot divest those rights.
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The government of the Union, then, ... is, emphatically, and truly, a government of the people. In form and in substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit.
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To obtain a just compromise, concession must not only mutual-it must be equal also....There can be no hope that either will yield more than it gets in return.
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The most lively fancy aided by the strongest description cannot equal the reality of the opera.
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The particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.
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No one imagines that a law professing to tax will be permitted to destroy.
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The power to tax is the power to destroy.
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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.
John Marshall
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It is the peculiar province of the legislature to prescribe general rules for the government of society the application of those rules to individuals in society would seem to be the duty of other departments.
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A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.
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