The individual decisions of the Marshall court were partially influenced by judicial nationalism, as evidenced by the cases McCulloch vs. Maryland, Cohens vs. Virginia, and Fletcher vs. Peck. Under the leadership of Chief Justice John Marshall, in the McCulloch vs. Maryland case in 1819, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not impose a tax on the Bank of the United States' currency. In doing so, he upheld Hamilton's implied powers, and thus allowing for the federal government to act according to a loose and adaptable constitution. The constitution would be interpreted by the people's will at the time, not a strict, unmoving interpretation. Present America governed itself with a set of rules, free to make its own decisions. In addition
