professor, farrah peterson and mark killenbeck. watch "landmark cases" live monday at 9:00 eastern on c-span, c-span.org or listen with the radio app. order a copy of the landmark companion's book. it is available for $8.95 at c-span.org/landmark cases. for an additional source, there is a link on our website to the national center's interactive constitution. >> next, thomas kidd on benjamin franklin's faith. he argued that franklin's exposure to skeptical writings undermined his confidence in christianity but did not erase his puritanical core. it was part of a symposium hosted by the museum of the bible in washington. it is 45 minutes. good morning, everyone.

welcome to museum of the bible. i am kay penniger. i am the director of museum education. we are delighted you have joined us today for our february speaker series program titled the bible and america's founders. our program consists of three sessions, which we follow by a round table discussion later on this afternoon. following the round table discussion, we'll have a book signing with our speakers. at museum of the bible, our mission is to engage people with the bible. the bible has made a powerful impact on world history and cultures. it has influenced nations, laws, and political skrutructures. it has guided debates and shaped pivotal events and inspired views of prominent individuals, past and present. the bible is hidden in plain sight in everyday life from common expressions we all use to the music, the arts and literature. today, we will explore a theme

that expands on how the american colonies as they moved toward revolution and the founding of our nation, our founders turned to the bible as a source of inspiration and justification for their political actions. we have three prominent scholars with us today, dr. thomas kidd, dr. daniel driesback and dr. james byrd who will talk with us about how the bible influenced the founding generation. our first session is the enigma of ben franklin's faith with thomas kidd. benjamin franklin tells us that he became a deist as a young man. at the constitutional convention in 1787, franklin proposed that delegates open sessions with prayer. in in session, thomas kidd will explore the enigma of franklin's faith and the tension between franklin's well-known skepticism and the enduring influence of his puritan upbringing on his familiarity with the bible. thomas kidd is a distinguished

professor of history at baylor university and associate director of baylor's institution for studies of religion. he is the author of "benjamin franklin:t the religious life o a founding father." please join me in welcoming dr. kidd. [ applause ] >> thank you to kay and thank you to the museum of the bible for hosting this wonderful event. it is a measure to be lear at the museum. i hope to consult with some of the section on bible in america and it is just a wonderful thing to be here and see this lovely facility. so thank you for having us and thank you to those of you that are joining us online or on tv. it is great to be here. i do want to talk to you today about the enigma of ben franklin's faith and to open with a story of something that happened at the constitutional

convention. in 1787 at the constitutional convention, time dragged as delegates pickered abo delegates bickered about representation in congress. james madison insisted that states with more people should possess more power. the small states knew that under the articles of confederation, america's existing national government, all states had equal authority regardless of population. so why should the small states give up that power under a new constitution? the convention might have failed at this point. it really could have. if it had, the country would have continued to struggle under the inefficient and some said fekless articles government or the new american nation might have disintegrated. at this critical moment, the octogenarian, ben franklin, took the floor, calling for unity.

he asked delegates to open session with prayer. as they were, quoting, groping, as it were in the dark to find political truth, he queried. how has it happened that we have not hitherto once thought of humbling applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understandings. if they continued to ignore god, he said, our projects will be confounded. we, ourselves, shall become a reproach and a bye word down to future agents. this man, who called himself a deist, now insisted that delegates should ask god for busine busine wisdom. classic deists did not believe that god intervened in human affairs. even more strange, he was one of the few delegates that thought that opening with prayer was a good idea. his motion was tabled.

so what kind of deist was this elderly man calling on america's greatest political minds to humble themselves before god. franklin's work at the constitutional convention was the culmination of his spectacular career. he and george washington, who was 26 years his junior, were not the architects of the constitution. that role fell to james madison and alexander hamilton and others. but franklin and washington were the two most famous americans in 1787 and delegates looked on franklin with respect and awe. there seemed little doubt that washington, the imposing general, would become president of the convention. if there was any comparison for chair, it was franklin. the very heavens obey him, one

noted. a storm kept him home for the opening day of the meeting. in son of boston puritans had come a long way to get to that philadelphia meeting hall. in late spring of 1787, he exchanged letters with his beloved sister, jane mecom, who was an evangelical christian. the sibling who maintained the longest correspondence with and the deepest influence on franklin. they reminisced about their humble beginnings as the children of a candlemaker. mecon had remained a person of humble means and relative anonymity while her brother's fame skyrocketed. ben told her that the course of his life filled him with wonder and fills me with humble thankfulness to that divine being who has graciously conducted my steps and prospered

me in this strange land to a degree that i could not have rationally expected and by no means conceive myself to have merritted. i beg the continuance of his favor. chronic sickness made it difficult for franklin to stand and speak at the convention. he did offer occasional comments, seeking to steer the delegates towards a successful conclusion. early on, he also made a substantive speech arguing against paying a salary to the president or to other members of the executive branch. he blased this argument on his dim view of human nature and a politician's temptations to personal agrandizement. he said there are two powerful things that have influence on the affairs of men, ambition,

the love of power and the love of money. place before men a post of honor that shall at the same time be a place of profit and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. such corruption ruined british politics. he wished on america's government from the profit motive citing exodus 18:21. franklin reminded delegates that the best rulers were men hating covetousness. if you turn politics into an avenue of personal gain, he said, only the most bold and violent men would want to enter. less delegates dismiss his pay proposal as utopian. he cited examples of offices in which people served for little or no money. the ash bit tors of quaker

meetings would go to other courts and they performed them for no compensation. he pointed to the virtuous washington who took no salary as the general of the continental army. though, to be fair, he did submit expenses. the convention declined to adopt franklin's proposal but franklin was participating in a bigger conversation that ran all through the constitutional debates. what kind of government could best account for the dangers in human nature? although americans disagreed on the answer, they did not dispute the premise. men were not angels as madison had written in federalist 5 1. they could not be trusted with unchecked power. franklin joined a more controversial debate at the convention with his proposal on prayer on june 28th, 1787. he had lived a long time he reminded delegates. he had become evermore certain

that god oversaw human affairs. franklin was convinced that providence had shepherded americans through the revolutionary crisis. it was foolish not to call on god again. he reminded them of the early days of the war when the patriots prayed. often in that same room for god's help. at its best, faith encouraged this. have we now forgotten that powerful friend, he asked? citing psalm 127, franklin said that, quote, except the lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. further more, he declared, i firmly believe this. i also believe that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed

in this political building no better than the builders of babble. prideful strife would confound their work and turn their proceedings into a farce. this was the most remarkable religious episode of ben franklin's life. it was stunning. not just because of the stage on which he was proposing prayer. franklin, as i suggested before, was nearly alone among the delegates in wishing to bring prayer into the convention's proceedings. connectic connecticut's roger sherman seconded his motion. virginia's edmond randolph proposed that they hire a pastor to preach on independence day less than a week later. that minister could then open subsequent meetings with prayer.

beyond these three men, delegates seemed uninterested in arranging for prayers. someone pointed out they had not budgeted fund for a chaplain. alexander hamilton worried that calling in a pastor might signal that the convention was becoming desperate. he also reportedly questioned the propryiety of calling in foreign aid. the motion fizzled and franklin was exasperated. jotting a note at the bottom of his prayer speech, the convention, except three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary. franklin in the convention moved on. perhaps his prayer speech did remind delegates of the need for compromise even if it prompted no formal recourse to god. in an address two days after proposal prayer, franklin explained the root of the

tension between the large and small states. if representation was proportioned according to population, quote, the small states contend their liberties will be in danger. if an equality of votes is to be put in its place, the large states say their money is in danger. both sides were going to have to give up some demantds ds to ensa successful outcome. drawing on earlier discussions regarding a two-house legislature, franklin suggested that the convention create a house of representatives with proportional representation and a senate with equal representation between the states. this became the great compromise, arguably the key settlement of the whole convention. in his final speech before the convention, franklin warned

against dogmaticism which might derail the competition. he saw this moralistic perfectionism in religion and politics. most men, indeed, as well as most sects and religion, think themselves in possession of all truth. wherever others differ from them, it is so far error. delegates should be willing to support the constitution, he said, even if they did not regard it as perfect. no better frame of government would emerge from additional meetings. franklin was, quote, not sure na it was not the best that they could do as it currently stood. the framer's enemies were longing to hear that their couns counsels had been confounded. like those of the builders of bable. the constitution went out for

ratification. multiple forms of government could work well when administered by virtuous people anyway. according to an oft-repeated story, when someone asked franklin after the convention whether they had created eamon arcky a monarchy or a republic, he replied, a republic, if you can keep it. so to return to our central question of franklin and faith, who was this franklin of philadelphia and what did he believe. . in our mipdnd's eye, the man ses ingenious, mischievous and enigmatic. his journalistic, scientific and political achievements are clear. what of ben franklin's religion. was he defined by his youthful embrace of deism? his long-time friendship with george whitfield, who was the

most influential evangelist of the 18th century, his work with thomas jefferson on the declaration of independence and its invocations of the creator and nature and nature's god, or his solitary insistence on prayer at the convention. when you add his propensity for joking about serious matters, he becomes even more difficult to pen down. regarding his chameleon-like religion, john adams once remarked, the catholics thought him almost a catholic. the xhuchurch of england claime him as one of them. the presbyterians saw him as half a presbyterian and others as a wet quaker, which basically means a quaker not so well-behaved. the key to understanding frank

pl franklin's ambivilent faith. the intense piety and faith of his parents acted as a tether. he abandoned his parents puritan beliefs as a teenager. that kept him from getting too far away. he would stretch his moral and doctrinal tether to the breaking point. by the end of a youthful sojourn he made to london, when he returned to philadelphia in 1726, he resolved to conform more closely to his parents ethical code. he steered away from extreme deism. could he craft a christianity

centered on virtue rather than traditional doctrine and avoid alienating his parents at the same time. more importantly, could he convince the evangelical figures in his life, most importantly, his sister, jane mecom, and the revivalist, george witfield, that all was well with his soul. he would have more success convincing his sister than convincing george wit fielfield. when he ran away from boston as a teenager, from boston to philadelphia, he also ran away from boston's calvinism. many factors, his puritan tether, the pressure of relationships with christian friends and family, disappointments with his own integrity, repeated illnesses and the growing weight of

political responsibility, all kept him from being too deep into the dark woods of radical skepticism. franklin explored a number of religious opinions. even even at the end of his life, as we will see, he remained noncommittal about all but a few points of belief. this elusiveness has made franklin susceptible to many religious interpretations. some devout christians, beginning with the celebrated 19th century biographer parson weems, have found ways to mold franklin into a faithful believer. weems opined that, quote, franklin's extraordinary benevolence and useful life were imbibed even unconsciously from the gospel. there's something to this notion of christianity's unconscious effect on franklin, but weems

had to employ indirection here because of franklin's repeated insistence that he doubted key points of christian doctrine. other christian writers could not overlook those skeptical statements. the english baptist minister john foster wrote in 1818 that love of the useful was the cornerstone of franklin's thought and that franklin, quote, substantially rejected christianity. one of the most influential interpretations of franklin's religion appeared in max vaber's classic study the protestant ethic and spirit of capitalism, 1905. for vaber, franklin was a near-perfect example of how protestantism, drained of its doctrinal particularity, fostered modern capitalism. franklin's "the way to wealth,

1758," which distilled his best thoughts on frugality and industry, illustrated the spirit of capitalism in near classical purity and simultaneously offers the advantage of being detached from all direct connection to religious belief. for vaber, franklin's virtues were no long aeer a matter of j obeying god. virtue was also useful and profitable. franklin admonished by his, quote, strict calvinist father about diligence in one's calling, presented money making and success as products of competence and proficiency in a vocation. there's a lot to recommend in vaber's portrait.

as an adult, franklin touted ethical responsibility, industriousness, and benevolence, even as he jettisoned christian orthodoxy. many scholars have taken franklin at his word by describing him as a deist. he calls himself a deist in his aug autobiography. that's a decent place to start. others have called him everything from a stone-cold atheist, which is ridiculous, to a man who believed in the, quote, active god of the israelites, the prophets, and the apostles. so deism stands between atheism and christian devotion. other than indicating skepticism about traditional christian doctrine, deism could mean many things in 18th century europe

and america. it can mean many things. the beliefs of different deists didn't always sync up. some said they believed in the bible as originally written. other deists doubted the bible's reliability. some believed god remain involved in life on earth. others saw god, yes, as the cosmic watch maker, winding up the world and then letting it run on its own and going off somewhere else. deism meant different things to franklin over the course of his long life, too, and he didn't always explain those variant meanings. so i'm not opposed to calling franklin a deist. i do so in my book. but deist doesn't quite capture the texture or trajectory of franklin's beliefs. i gratefully draw from aspects of vaber's analysis and those of

many other commentators on franklin's religion in my analysis of him, but adding to the themes of franklin's skepticism and ambivalence, my book shows how much franklin's personal experiences shaped his religious beliefs, his personal experiences shaped his religious beliefs. like abraham lincoln -- i think there's an important comparison to be made here to lincoln. franklin's early exposure to skeptical writings undermined his confidence in christianity. but books alone could not erase franklin's childhood immersion in puritan piety. his ongoing relationships with evangelical christians made it difficult for him to jettison the vocabulary and preseptcepts traditional faith altogether. although his view of providence vacillated, the weight of the

american revolution fostered a renewed belief that history had a divine purpose. franklin and lincoln, both self-educated sons of calvinist parents, both of whom had much of the bible kmicommitted to memory, gravitated toward a revitalized sense of god's role over history as war and constitutional crises racked america in the 1770s for franklin, in the 1860s for lincoln. neither man's beliefs could escape the influence of their daily relationships and stressful experiences. it is difficult to overstate just how deep an imprint the bible itself made on franklin's

or on lincoln's mind. or on his ways of speaking and writing. you all know that even many devout christians today are basically unfamiliar with large sections of the bible, especially in the old testament and don't know much about current theological debates. franklin knew the bible backward and forward. it framed the way that he spoke and he thought. biblical phrases that he had learned going to church over and over, long two-hour sermons sometimes in puritan church, multiple times a week. so biblical phrases are everywhere in his vast body of writings. so even as he embraced religious doubts, the king james bible colored his ideas about

morality, human nature, and the purpose of life. it served as his most common source of similes and anecdotes. it's everywhere. he even enjoyed praying on friends' ignorance of scripture in order to play jokes on them. he would show them a passage and say, oh, don't you remember this from the book of genesis. they'd say, oh, yeah, right. he'd laugh at them because he knew it wasn't in the book of genesis. he got really upset one time when one of these things got published because then everybody knew about the joke. he couldn't play the joke anymore. franklin once explained the bible saturated environment in which he grew up in a letter to the reverend samuel cooper of boston. franklin was arranging for the publication of one of cooper's sermons in europe, but franklin needed to annotate the sermon with biblical references. this is what he said. quote, it was not necessary in new england, where everybody

reads the bible and is acquainted with scripture phrases, that you should note the text from which you took them, he told cooper. but i have observed in england as well as in france that verses and expressions taken from the sacred writings and not known to be such -- in other words, you don't give the chapter and verse, appear very strange and awkward to some readers. i shall therefore, in my addition, take the liberty of marking the quoted text in the margin. now, franklin did not need cooper to insert the bible references because franklin knew them by heart. and as a child of the puritans, franklin immediately recognized bible phrases when he read them, even from obscure sections of the text. so the shadow of scripture loomed over his long life.

franklin then was a pioneer, i think, of a distinctly kind of american -- distinct kind of american religion. i'm tempted to call it an early form of what robert bella called sheilaism. sheilaism, which was the individualist religion described in bella's celebrated book "habits of the heart," 1985. if you haven't heard of this, in bella's sheilaism, the individual conscience is the standard for religious truth, not any external authority. but i think that franklin's protege, tom payne, might be a better choice as a founder of sheilaism, with payne's declaration in his book "the age of reason," 1794, that, quote, my own mind is my own church. so i think franklin was too tethered to external christian ethics and institutions to be a forerunner of what bella called sheilaism.

instead, franklin was a pioneer of a related kind of faith. and that is what i call doctrineless, moralized christianity. some may debate whether this is actually christianity at all, but you all can think about this for yourself. franklin was an experimenter at heart, and he tinkered with a novel form of christianity, one where virtually all beliefs became nonessential. nonessential. so the puritans of his childhood focused too much on doctrine, he thought, and he wearied of philadelphia presbyterians' zeal for expelling the let ra dox and the lack of interest, as he perceived it, in the mandates of love and charity. for franklin, christianity remained a pre-eminent resource for virtue, but he had no

excusie exclusive attachment to christianity as a system or a source of salvation. in franklin's estimation, we cannot know for certain whether doctrines such as god's trintarian nature are true. but we do know, franklin said, that christians and the devout of all faiths are called to benevolence in selfless service. do doctrinal strife is not only fewal, but it undermines the mandate of virtue, but we know god calls us all to do good. now, if you hadn't noticed, doctrineless christianity and doctrineless religion is utterly pervasive in america today. we see it most commonly in major media figtures of self-help, spirituality, and success. such as oprah winfrey. in a different vein, houston megachurch pastor joel osteen.

although they differ on specific, some are more chr christian, some are less christian, the common message of these awe horse to and their countless followers is that a life of love, service, and significance is the best life of all. god will help you live that kind of life, but your faith should be empowering and tolerant rather than fractious and nitpicking. that's what they say. sociologist christian smith at notre dame says these characteristically american beliefs amount to what he calls moralisticer this put moralistic therapeutic deism. those such as joel osteen live out their faith in particular congregations and traditions. even oprah winfrey has testified

that, quote, i am a christian, that is my faith. however, she says, i'm not asking you to be a christian. if you want to be one, i can show you how, but it is not required. doctrineless christians agree that people may need to believe in doctrines, our personal understanding of god can help us. we may need particular beliefs to enable our best life now, in joel osteen's phrase. but ultimately, the focus of doctrineless christianity is a life of good works, resiliency, and generosity now. faith helps us to embody discipline, benevolence, success in this life. that's what god wants for us. well, today it's kind of easy to dismiss this sort of pot faith because it's so often peddled by wealthy media superstars.

but it is, i think, america's most common code of spirituality. for franklin, when you go back to the 18th century, doctrineless moralized christianity was serious intellectual business. it was very serious. born out of contemporary religious debates and dissatisfaction with his family's puritanism, like many skeptics in the 18th century, franklin was weary of 300 years of fighting over the legacy of the protestant reformation. much of that fighting concerned church authority and particular doctrines. franklin grew up in a world of intractable conflict between catholics and protestants but also between and within protestant denominations themselves. what good was christianity, he wondered, if it precipitated pettiness, persecution, and violence.

unlike some self-help celebrities today, franklin and his cohort of european and american deists reckoned that in promoting a doctrineless ethics focused christianity, they were redeeming christianity itself. how successful that redemptive effort was, you all are going to have to decide for yourselves. could you really have a nonexclusive, doctrinely minimal, morality centered christianity? or did the effort fatally compromise christianity itself? franklin, thomas jefferson, and many of their friends in america, britain, and france wanted to give it a try. 13 years after franklin's death, jefferson wrote that he considered himself, quote, a christian, in the only sense jesus wished anyone to be. he admired jesus', quote, moral

doctrines as more pure and perfect than any other philosophers, jefferson said. but to jefferson, jesus' excellence was only human. jesus never claimed to be anything else, jefferson said. christians, including the authors of the new testament books, imposed the claims of divinity on jesus after he had gone to his grave and not risen again, jefferson concluded. well, franklin didn't go as far as jefferson. franklin preferred not to dogmatize one way or the other on matters such as jesus' divinity. in a classic tension that still marks american religion right now, franklin's devout parents, his sister jane, and the reverend george whitfield, all found doctrineless christianity to be dangerous. yes, they agreed that morality was essential, and yes, it was better not to fight over minor

theological issues. but true belief in jesus was necessary for salvation to the puritans and evangelicals, jesus was fully god and fully man. doubting that truth puts your soul in jeopardy. jesus had made the way for sinners to be saved through his atoning death and miraculous resurrection. it wasn't enough to just emulate jesus' life, as important as that was. more than a moral teacher, jesus was lord and savior. so honoring christ required belief in doctrinal truth. franklin wasn't sure about that. perhaps the puritans and presbyterians of his youth had gotten it wrong. perhaps he was the one who was getting back to jesus' original teachings. but he was sure that doing good

was the grand point. for most of his life, franklin had traditional christian inquirers, especially family and friends, who asked him about the state of his beliefs and the state of his soul. as i've said, among the most consistent of those inquirers were his sister jane and george whitfield. in the last few weeks of franklin's life, however, one more inquirer came on the stage. franklin had known yale college president ezra styles ever since yale granted franklin an honorary master's degree in 1753. styles, a congregationalist minister and broad-minded calvinist, realized that franklin was near death. quote, you have merited and received all the honors of the

republic of letters and are going to a world where all subly their glories will be lost in the glories of immortality, styles wrote to him. but styles paused. would it be impertinent of him to ask about franklin's belief in christ? as much as i know of dr. franklin, styles confessed, i have not an idea of his religious sentiments. i wish to know the opinion of my venerable friend concerning jesus of nazareth. styles adored franklin, but he still wished franklin would have clear title to, quote, that happy immortality which i believe jesus alone has purchased for the virtuous and truly good of every religious denomination. franklin respected styles, and so five weeks before his death, five weeks before his death, he

penned a response. it's absolutely precious that we have this. and he asked styles to keep it confidential. apparently he didn't since we're talking about it here. you desire to know something of my religion. it is the first time i have been questioned upon it, franklin wrote, which is simply not true. i don't know why he said that. his parents, jane, george whitfield and others had been asking him about it all his life. anyway, he said, but i do not take your curiosity amiss and shall endeavor in a few words to gratify it, he wrote. here is my creed. i believe in one god. creator of the universe. that he governs it by his providence, that he ought to be worshipped, that the most acceptable service we can render to him is doing good to his

other children. that the soul of man is immortal and will be treated with justice in another life, respecting its conduct in this. so at the end of his life, franklin was a providentialist, a believer in the duties of worship and benevolence, and he expected god would rule in a final judgment. so pretty good. then he continued. as to jesus of nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, i think the system of morals and his religion as he left them to us the best the world ever saw or is likely to see, franklin wrote. but he still had doubts. quote, i apprehend christ's

teachings have received various corrupting changes. in other words, he's not sure that he can trust what the new testament says about jesus' life and teachings. corrupting changes. and i have some doubts as to his divinity. though it is a question i do not dogmatize upon -- there's that word again, dogmatize -- having never studied it. franklin never doubted how admirable christ's moral teachings were. he just didn't know if he could accept the new testament's doctrinal claims about jesus. franklin thought, quote, it needless to busy myself with it now when i expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. there he goes joking again, right? he knows he's going to be dead soon. and he's going to go, and he's going to find out whether he was

right or not. so in this life, he just wasn't sure whether he could know the truth about christ, the bible, salvation, but he was going to find out soon. in spite of his qualms about traditional christianity, he saw, quote, no harm, however, in it being believed if that belief has the good consequences it probably has of making his doctrines, jesus' doctrines, more respected and better observed. so you can believe if you want, but for franklin, the point was never just belief but virtuous action. moralized christianity. i shall only add respecting myself, he concluded his letter to styles, that having experienced the goodness of that being in conducts me prosperously through a long

life, i have no doubt of its continuance in the next. though without the smallest conceit of meriting such goodness. god had always been good to him, franklin said, and he saw no reason to think that god's kindness would stop when he died. and die he did on april 17th, 1790. and he left -- when he died, he left the enigma of his faith unresolved. but in his code of doctrineless moralized christianity, franklin became the founding father of perhaps the most pervasive kind of spirituality in the western world today. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> here's what's coming up. next, how the bible influenced the writing of the u.s. constitution. then more about the bible with a look at how it affected america's revolution. and late er, how the bible informed the founding of america. and join us tonight when american history tv is in prime time. our focus will be the museum of the bible in washington, d.c., which held a symposium on the bible and the founding of america. we'll also hear from baylor university professor thomas kidd on benjamin franklin's faith. american history tv primetime beginning 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span3. later today, the commission on security and cooperation in europe looks at the doping of russian athletes and the policy solutions for protecting whistle blowers and combatting fraud in sports. our live coverage begins 3:30 p.m. eastern over on c-span2.

also today, eric trump, son of president donald trump, will address the annual conservative political action conference at maryland's national harbor. you can watch live coverage beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern on our companion network c-span. and join us tonight for more cpac with remarks from vice president mike pence. he spoke this morning to the conservative gathering. you can watch his full speech tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern also on c-span. >> monday on c-span's landmark cases, we'll look at the spleem court case mcculloch v. maryland which restricted state a against the legitimate use of this power. explore this case and the high court's ruling with university of virginia associate law professor farah peterson and mark