Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/508

 500 the will of a distinct government. To any extent, however inconsiderable, it is a burthen on the operations of government. It may be carried to an extent, which will arrest them entirely.

§ 1047. It is admitted by the counsel for the defendants, that the power to tax stock must affect the terms, on which loans will be made. But this objection, it is said, has no more weight, when urged against the application of an acknowledged power to government stock, than if urged against its application to lands sold by the United States. The distinction is, we think, apparent. When lands are sold, no connection remains between the purchaser and the government. The lands purchased become a part of the mass of property in the country, with no implied exemption from common burthens. All lands are derived from the general or particular government, and all lands are subject to taxation. Lands sold are in the condition of money borrowed and repaid. Its liability to taxation, in any form it may then assume, is not questioned. The connection between the borrower and the lender is dissolved. It is no burthen on loans; it is no impediment to the power of borrowing, that the money, when repaid, loses its exemption from taxation. But a tax upon debts due from the government stands, we think, on very different principles from a tax on lands, which the government has sold. The Federalist has been quoted in the argument, and an eloquent and well merited eulogy has been bestowed on the great statesman, who is supposed to be the author of the number, from which the quotation was made. This high authority was also relied upon in the case of M'Culloch v. The State of Maryland, and was considered by the Court. Without