Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/488

 480 been shown, that a tax on the article in the hands of the importer is within its words; and we think it too clear for controversy, that the same tax is within its mischief. We think it unquestionable, that such a tax has precisely the same tendency to enhance the price of the article, as if imposed upon it, while entering the port.

§ 1020. The counsel for the state of Maryland insist with great reason, that if the words of the prohibition be taken in their utmost latitude, they will abridge the power of taxation, which all admit to be essential to the states, to an extent, which has never yet been suspected; and will deprive them of resources, which are necessary to supply revenue, and which they have heretofore been admitted to possess. These words must, therefore, be construed with some limitation; and, if this be admitted, they insist, that entering the country is the point of time, when the prohibition ceases, and the power of the state to tax commences. It may be conceded, that the words of the prohibition ought not to be pressed to their utmost extent; that in our complex system the object of the powers conferred on the government of the Union, and the nature of the often conflicting powers, which remain in the states, must always be taken into view, and may aid in expounding the words of any particular clause. But while we admit, that sound principles of construction ought to restrain all courts from carrying the words of the prohibition beyond the object, which the ^constitution is intended to secure; that there must be a point of time, when the prohibition ceases, and the power of the state to tax commences; we cannot admit, that this point of time is the instant, that the articles enter the country. It is, we think, obvious, that this construction would defeat the prohibition.