In the precedent which it established, however, it had much deeper and more far-reaching results.

It brought within the scope of the Constitution of the United States every charter granted by a State, limited the action of the States in a most important attribute of sovereignty, and extended the jurisdiction of the highest federal court more than any other judgment ever rendered by them.

From the day when it was announced to the present time, the doctrine of Marshall in the Dartmouth College case has continued to exert an enormous influence, and has been constantly sustained and attacked in litigation of the greatest importance.
[Footnote 1: Mr.Peter Harvey, in his _Reminiscences_ (p.

122), has an anecdote in regard to Webster and Pinkney, which places the former in the light of a common and odious bully, an attitude as alien to Mr.Webster's character as can well be conceived.

The story is undoubtedly either wholly fictitious or so grossly exaggerated as to be practically false.