(1819) Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that affirmed the constitutional doctrine of Congress's implied powers.
The case concerned the legitimacy of the authority of a newly created national bank to control the issuance of currency by the states, including Maryland. The unanimous opinion, written by John Marshall , established that Congress possesses not only the powers expressly conferred on it by the Constitution but also the authority appropriate to the utilization of such powers, in this case the creation of such a bank. This doctrine, drawn from the "elastic clause" of Article 1, became a significant factor in the steady growth of federal powers. It also bolstered the power of judicial review established in Marbury v. Madison (1803).