<P> The defining example of the Necessary and Proper Clause in U.S. history was McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819 . The United States Constitution says nothing about establishing a national bank . The U.S. government established a national bank that provided part of the government's initial capital . In 1819 the federal government opened a national bank in Baltimore, Maryland . In an effort to tax the bank out of business, the government of Maryland imposed a tax on the federal bank . James William McCulloch, a cashier at the bank, refused to pay the tax . Eventually the case was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court . Chief Justice John Marshall held that the power of establishing a national bank could be implied from the U.S. constitution . Marshall ruled that no state could use its taxing power to tax an arm of the national government . </P> <P> The case of United States v. Lopez in 1997 held unconstitutional the Gun Free School Zone Act because it exceeded the power of Congress to "regulate commerce...among the several states". Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote, "We start with first principles . The Constitution creates a Federal Government of enumerated powers ." For the first time in sixty years the Court found that in creating a federal statute, Congress had exceeded the power granted to it by the Commerce Clause . </P> <Dl> <Dd> For more details see: The Rehnquist Court and the Commerce Clause </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> For more details see: The Rehnquist Court and the Commerce Clause </Dd>

Which power was delegated to the federal government in the united states constitution