General Welfare Clause
Constitution 101: To “Provide for the Common Defense”
Many people use the general welfare clause as their “the federal government can do anything and everything clause.” Others have turned the phrase “provide for the common defense” into a similar justification for federal overreach. Progressives tend to invoke the...
What is an “Excise?”
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution reads as follows: The Congress shall have Power [1] To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the Common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties,...
Thomas Jefferson on the Misuse of the Commerce and General Welfare Clauses
Barely 8 months before he died, Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Virginia politician William Giles about the threat posed by the usurpation of states rights by a growing federal power. He identified federal powers claimed under the commerce and general welfare clauses as...
Thomas Jefferson on Congressional Abuse of Commerce and Welfare
Even by 1825, Thomas Jefferson was fearful that the growing central powers of the federal government were encroaching upon those of the states. In this insightful letter to his colleague and friend William Giles, Jefferson notes that Congress was twisting the intent...