General Welfare Clause
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...
The General Welfare Clause is not about writing checks
When challenged on the federal government’s constitutional authority to create welfare programs, meddle in education or run a national healthcare system, progressives will almost always appeal to the “general welfare clause.” Huffington Post columnist Paul Abrams...