Josh Leach
AP US History
Essay Question #5
If I had to rate these cases in order of importance in shaping America’s legal system I
would rate them as McCulloch vs. Maryland as the most important, then Cohens vs. Virginia,
Fletcher vs. Peck, Dartmouth College vs. Woodward and lastly Gibbons vs. Ogden.
The reason that McCulloch vs. Maryland is the most important is simple; it established
that the Supreme Court could decide what’s constitutional and what’s unconstitutional. This
ruling gave the federal government power, while at the same time making the states’ government
exceptionally weak. Almost equally as important is the case of Cohens vs. Virginia. The Cohens
were found guilty of illegally selling lottery tickets by the state of Virginia, but the case was
appealed all the way through the court system up to the Supreme Court. When the case was
reviewed by John Marshall he ruled “in favor” of Virginia and found the Cohens guilty. But
what the he actually did was make the states’ government even weaker than it already was.
Marshall now gave the power to the Supreme Court to review decisions made by state courts, in
turn giving the federal government more power, again.
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward is very important in the shaping of our country today.
The state of New Hampshire wanted Dartmouth College’s land which was given to them by a
charter from King George III. Dartmouth appealed to the Supreme Court and Marshall ruled in
favor of the college. He clearly stated that any charter or grant was permanent. This is a big
ruling because if the charter was dismissed it means all charters could be dismissed. If this
happens then states would fight over land because the state boundaries were formed by charters
from King George III. Fletcher vs. Peck was a case that dealt with a situation in Georgia where a
Georgia legislature was bribed into granting 35 million acres of Yazoo River country to private
speculators. The next legislature cancelled the grant due to an angry public outcry. When the
case was brought into the Supreme Court Marshall ruled that no matter what the contract was; all
state contracts are permanent. This is important because it made citizens really pay attention to
who they were putting into office. This also reinforced the idea that the Constitution forbids the
states to impair or cancel any contracts, pre-revolution or post revolution.
Lastly is the case of Gibbons vs. Ogden. The state of New York tried to grant a monopoly
of water-borne commerce between New York and New Jersey to a private corporation. Marshall
ruled this unconstitutional because the Constitution clearly gives only Congress the ability to
control interstate commerce. Without this ruling our commerce inside the country could’ve gone
straight down the drain. If each state could control their own commerce then there would be so
many intertwining regulations that would make trading almost impossible.
As you can see in a short period of time John Marshall and the rest of the Supreme Court
shaped our country’s legal system in a big way. Even though some of them may seem more
important than others they all have had a lasting effect on the country and how we do things.