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.

The power to tax is the power to destroy.

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.

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.

Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.

The peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional.

The French Revolution will be found to have had great influence on the strength of parties, and on the subsequent political transactions of the United States.