Article 1 – The Legislative Branch Section 8 – Powers of Congress
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
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 an 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, dock-Yards, 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.
Now that’s a lot to think about. These are very important Powers that are delegated to Congress. Remember Congress has no power that we did not give them. We the People have allowed them to do a lot in our name. Some things I am proud of, others not so much.
To borrow money on the credit of the United States. This is simple, someone has to pay for wars, aid and any new things We the People want or need. However I don’t think the founding fathers thought we would ever borrow over 10 Trillion Dollars
The regulation of Commerce with foreign nations, make perfect sense to me, there is strength and safety in numbers. Now where We the People have screwed up was the first time we allowed Congress to get away with the second part among the states..When I say get away with, I mean the lame explanations of what they describe as their excuse to justify passing a new law and calling it legal because it pertains to commerce. How many laws can you think of that the Federal Government has passed using this excuse?
Very important to have a uniform law on both Naturalization as well as Bankruptcies, since we all are Citizens of our home State as well as a Citizen of the United States….. The bankruptcies laws are important because with out that being Federal, you would have to declare in whatever states that you owed money to. Which if your having to declare bankruptcies you really don’t have the money to declare in one state let alone all 50….
To coin money and regulate value is a good thing as well as fixing the Standard of weight and measures. Can you imagine one State using MPH and the next State you drive through using KPH? Would drive a sane person nuts. Granted the newer cars have a button you can switch from one to the other, but not all cars do….
We have to have a law against counterfeiting our money, since if we did not it would be worthless. Those who do it, screw up not only our economy but that of the world now a days.
Setting up lower Courts just makes common sense, since the Supreme Court would never get any work done if they had to hear each case…..
Here is one I really like which is to punish Pirates and anyone else committing a felony on the high seas, people though pirates where a thing of the past, however are founding fathers knew better.
Now here is one that has been stepped on, skirted around, and blatantly ignored by a few of our Presidents. Congress and only Congress has the power to declare war. One thing about this power that congress should think about doing is issuing a Letter of Marque and Reprisal, this would allow some of the PMC’s to go after the pirates we have coming out of Somalia.
Raise and Support Armies is a given or should be, not having a standing Army in this day and age would be scary. However back then since we where separated from most of the world by oceans, it made perfect sense. Since we did not want to have a military coup.
Being a former British Colony I can’t imagine our Founding Fathers not putting a Federal Navy in our Constitution. The English for most of the 17th and 18th centuries had the best Navy in the world. It was only natural for us to follow suite. With having a large Navy they would need rules, which is why its spelled out in the Constitution.
I just can’t see a law here that is not straight forward in its meaning, and yet people still allow Congress and our Presidents to ignore it.
