You cited a portion of McCullough that was contradicted by the very next sentence in the ruling.
That is an attempt to skew the record, or if you like, the perception, of these events.
Walt
"No political dreamer was ever wild enough to think of breaking down the lines which separate the States, and of compounding the American people into one common mass. Of consequence, when they act, they act in their States. But the measures they adopt do not, on that account, cease to be the measures of the people themselves, or become the measures of the State governments."
Chief Justice Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, (1819)
"When the American people created a national legislature, with certain enumerated powers, it was neither necessary nor proper to define the powers retained by the States. These powers proceed, not from the people of America, but from the people of the several States; and remain, after the adoption of the constitution, what they were before, except so far as they may be abridged by that instrument."
Chief Justice Marshall, Sturges v. Crowninshield, 4 Wheat. 122, (1819)
"At the first presidential election, the appointment of electors was made by the Legislatures of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, and South Carolina. ... Fifteen states participated in the second presidential election, in nine of which electors were chosen by the legislatures. ..."We are not a democray. We are a Constitional Republic. The "people" of the US are not lumped into one common mass.
Justice Fuller, McPherson v. Blacker, 146 U.S. 1, (1892)