McCulloch v. Maryland upheld implied powers and blocked states from taxing the federal government

John Marshall advanced federal supremacy and judicial review

Marshall's jurisprudence emphasized that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, enforceable by an independent judiciary. Through his court's decisions, he affirmed judicial review, broad implied powers for Congress, and federal authority to override conflicting state laws.

Gibbons v. Ogden expanded federal power over interstate commerce

In 1824, the Supreme Court unanimously invalidated a New York steamboat monopoly, ruling that navigation between states constitutes interstate commerce. Chief Justice John Marshall held that Congress has authority over such commerce and that conflicting state laws are void under the supremacy clause.

Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court's power of judicial review

The 1803 ruling empowered courts to strike down laws that violate the Constitution, permanently expanding the Supreme Court's authority and cementing its role as a coequal branch. This video explains the case and its lasting impact.

The supremacy clause establishes federal law as the highest authority

The supremacy clause states that the United States Constitution and federal laws enacted under it supersede conflicting state laws, ensuring national authority prevails when federal and state governments disagree.

The first test of America's war powers came just a decade after the Constitution was ratified

During the undeclared Quasi-War with France in 1800, the Supreme Court ruled in Bas v. Tingy that Congress had authorized a valid "imperfect war" through statutes alone, without a formal declaration, establishing that there is a legal spectrum between peace and declared war.

Explore the specific authorities granted to Congress: the 'enumerated powers'

The Constitution grants Congress a list of powers—including taxing, regulating interstate commerce, and declaring war—while powers not explicitly listed are reserved to the states or the people, defining the federal government's scope of authority.

The necessary and proper clause of the Constitution allows Congress flexibility in governing

The Constitution authorizes Congress to pass laws needed to carry out its enumerated powers, which, over time, have become one of the Constitution's most powerful sources of federal authority.

The nullification crisis tested whether states could defy federal law

In the 1830s, South Carolina declared federal tariffs void within its borders. President Andrew Jackson threatened military force, Congress passed a compromise tariff, and the episode ended with federal authority prevailing over state nullification.

The Civil War permanently strengthened federal power

The Civil War expanded federal power through emancipation, national military mobilization, and postwar civil rights laws, permanently strengthening the national government and shifting the balance of authority away from the states.

Federalist 51 argues that liberty could be protected within the national government

In Federalist 51, James Madison wrote that separating powers and pitting their ambitions against one another would restrain federal overreach from within, reducing reliance on state resistance as the sole check on national authority.

The Tenth Amendment reserves all powers not granted to the federal government to the states or the people

Any powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or to the people. It has been cited in legal battles over healthcare, marijuana, and environmental regulation.

In his 1859 annual message to Congress, President Buchanan articulated a narrow view of presidential military authority

Buchanan argued that the president lacked constitutional authority to launch offensive military action without congressional approval, a view that reflected the prevailing interpretation of executive war powers throughout much of the nineteenth century.

The Bill of Rights was designed to protect individuals from the power of the federal government

When the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791, its protections applied only to the federal government. It wasn't until the 14th Amendment (1868) and the Supreme Court's doctrine of selective incorporation that most provisions were extended to state governments—a process that began in 1925.

Hamilton's tax on whiskey sparked the first armed rebellion against US federal authority

As Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton designed an excise tax on whiskey that provoked violent resistance in western Pennsylvania. The Whiskey Rebellion ended when George Washington mobilized state militias under federal authority to enforce the law.

Maryland required officeholders to declare a belief in God until 1961

In Torcaso v. Watkins (1961), the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a Maryland requirement that officeholders declare belief in God violated the First and 14th Amendments. The decision struck down religious tests for public office across all states.

The Supreme Court blocked states from setting term limits for Congress

In US Term Limits v. Thornton (1995), the Supreme Court struck down state laws that tried to impose term limits on their congressional delegations. The court ruled such restrictions unconstitutional unless added through a federal amendment.

An 1873 Supreme Court case about slaughterhouses weakened parts of the 14th Amendment

In 1873, the Supreme Court's Slaughterhouse Cases ruled that the 14th Amendment's "privileges or immunities" clause protected only federal—not state—citizenship rights, greatly limiting the amendment's power to safeguard enslaved people from state discrimination.

The Compromise of 1790 broke a deadlock over debt and the national capital

In 1790, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson reached an agreement that allowed Congress to assume the states' war debts and to approve a permanent national capital on the Potomac River.

On July 1, 1862, the agency now known as the Internal Revenue Service was established and named the Bureau of Internal Revenue

It was created to collect the first-ever US income tax, which was created to help pay for the Civil War. After gaining their independence from Britain, Americans were skeptical about giving the federal government absolute power to collect federal income taxes. As a result, early US tax laws dictated that direct taxes, like income taxes, had to be directly apportioned to a state's population. The nation went back and forth on its federal tax laws multiple times. For instance, in 1872, the income tax from the Civil War was repealed. But it was revived in 1894, and then repealed again in 1895. In 1913, Congress passed the 16th Amendment, giving Congress the power to levy income taxes on individuals and corporations without apportioning the burden among the states in line with population, once and for all.

The Articles of Confederation were not a federal system

Ratified in 1781, the Articles of Confederation left the states sovereign and independent, denied the national government power to tax or regulate commerce, and forced Congress to act through the states—exposing the limits of confederation and paving the way for US federalism.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

The Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that Trump's emergency tariff powers didn't extend to imposing tariffs

In a 6-3 decision, the court held that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—a 1977 law granting the president authority to regulate commerce during national emergencies—does not authorise the president to unilaterally impose tariffs, a power the Constitution reserves to Congress.

Citizens United extended First Amendment protections to corporate political spending

The Supreme Court's 2010 decision struck down limits on independent political expenditures by corporations and other organizations, ruling that such spending is protected speech—a decision that was deeply contested and reshaped campaign finance law.

When state and local laws conflict, state law almost always prevails

Courts generally side with state law when it conflicts with a local ordinance. Whether the contradiction is explicitly stated or merely implied by the two laws, state authority typically prevails.

Congress can remove federal officials through impeachment

The United States House of Representatives has the sole power to impeach federal officials. The United States Senate then conducts impeachment trials and decides whether to convict and remove them from office.

Pierce v. Society of Sisters limited state power over how parents educate their children

In striking down Oregon’s attempt to ban private schools, the Supreme Court held that forcing children into public education violated substantive due process, affirming that parents—not the state—have a fundamental right to direct their children’s upbringing and education.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.