The Board of Commissioners of Knox County, Tennessee brought a case against William H. Aspinwall, Joseph W. Alsop, Henry Chancey, Charles Gould and Samuel L. M. Barlow for the collection of taxes on certain lands in the county that had been sold to them by an act passed by Congress in 1845 granting them title to said lands as part of a treaty with the Cherokee Nation. The defendants argued that they were exempt from taxation due to their status as Indian agents who held these lands in trust for the benefit of Native Americans under federal law and thus could not be taxed without Congressional approval or consent from President James K Polk's administration at that time which was never granted nor sought after by either party involved in this dispute. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with the defendants ruling that since no tax had ever been imposed upon these particular tracts before then it would be unconstitutional for any state government body such as Knox County’s board commissioners to do so now without first obtaining permission from both Congress and President Polk’s administration beforehand which neither party did here making this attempted taxation invalid according to established legal precedent set forth within our nation's highest court system at present day

In this case, the Board of Commissioners of Knox County argued that they had the right to tax certain lands owned by William H. Aspinwall, Joseph W. Alsop, Henry Chancey, Charles Gould and Samuel L. M. Barlow for a period prior to their purchase from the United States government in 1855-1856 as part of an act passed by Congress in 1846 granting them immunity from taxation until sold or otherwise disposed of by said government. The dissenting opinion held that while Congress has authority over public lands within its jurisdiction and can grant exemptions from taxation on such land when it sees fit; however, these exemptions do not extend beyond what is explicitly stated in the statute itself and cannot be applied retroactively so as to exempt property which was already taxed before being purchased from the federal government under any act passed after such purchase took place. Therefore, since there was no explicit exemption granted for taxes due prior to 1855-1856 when these properties were purchased by private individuals then those taxes must still be paid according to law regardless if they are later exempted at some point afterwards through Congressional action or not