Federalist 41 and the 18 Enumerated Powers

Today Michelle Bachman is leading thousands of American patriots into the Halls of Congress to question members about the Constitutional power within Congress that gives them the authority to take over the nation’s healthcare system. As of right now, Democrats are answering there is nothing in Congress that says they can’t. Other Democrats are using the imaginary elastic they feel the General Welfare clause was written with. As you know Senators Roland Burris and Claire McCaskill have provided their constituents with the General Welfare clause as their reasoning for providing welfare to the country. This shows how constitutionally stupid McCaskill and Burris both are, as are many other Democrats who make this claim to justify the passage of Obama’s healthcare plan.

In other words, Americans who understand the limits placed on Congress by the Constitution are being lied to by Congress to justify their unconstitutional actions. You see, this is such an easy argument to defeat members of Congress on. There are historical documents that explain the General Welfare clause and the limits placed on Congress, but Senators like Burris and McCaskill don’t feel the rules in those documents apply to them. They think the Constitutional, which everyone knows places limits on government, has this clause that gives Congress unlimited powers. It’s oxymoron thinking on the part of these Senators. It’s no wonder these questions anger our elected representatives.

"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." - Thomas Jefferson

You see it doesn’t take genius to figure out what is included in the General Welfare clause. James Madison spelt it out for the people of New York before ratifying the Constitution. The people of New York wanted to ensure the sovereignty of their state would be kept by limiting the powers of any union they entered that created a federal entity.

The General Welfare clause includes these six items. Claire McCaskill and Roland Burris can’t add to the six. These were agreed upon in the Constitutional Convention and were written of in Federalist Paper 41 to the people of New York. They are:

1. Security against foreign danger.

2. Regulation of the intercourse with foreign nations.

3. Maintenance of harmony and proper intercourse among the States.

4. Certain miscellaneous objects of general utility.

5. Restraint of the States from certain injurious acts.

6. Provisions for giving due efficacy to all these powers.

Nowhere in the list is babysitting Americans with huge government welfare programs. Federalist 41 continues to define in more detail what these six items mean. Our Congress needs to be reminded. When combined with the 18 enumerated powers, you have the limits of what Congress can and can’t do.

The 18 Enumerated Powers:

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;

To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;

To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;

To establish post offices and post roads;

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

To provide and maintain a navy;

To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;

To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;—And

To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.