"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite." --James Madison, "The Federalist, No. 45"
Friday, April 8, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
You might want to consider also Alexander Hamilton's comment on the general welfare clause in his 1791 report to Congress on manufactures:
The terms “general welfare” were doubtless intended to signify more than was expressed or imported in those that preceded otherwise, numerous exigencies incident to the affairs of a nation would have been left without a provision. The phrase is as comprehensive as any that could have been used; because it was not fit that the constitutional authority of the Union to appropriate its revenues should have been restricted within narrower limits than the “general welfare;” [Art. 1, §8, Clause 1] and because this necessarily embraces a vast variety of particulars, which are susceptible neither of specification nor of definition.
Post a Comment