The Collector v. Day

Mr. Akerman, Attorney-General, and Mr. John C. Ropes (with a brief of Mr. Ropes), for the collector, plaintiff in error: In the exercise of its granted powers, the Federal government is supreme. Under the general power of taxation, every man and every thing throughout the country (exports excepted) are subject to taxation in the discretion of Congress, provided that the power be exercised for the purposes declared in the Constitution, and not for unauthorized purposes, and that the conditions of its exercise, prescribed in the Constitution, uniformity, &c., be complied with.