Limits on Government Power -vs- Implied Power...
Rational Nation USA Purveyor of Truth The Congress shall have Power 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.... ARTICLE I, SECTION 8, CLAUSE 1 The general welfare clause of the constitution has been been debated since before ratification and continues to this day. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were notable advocates of a strict interpretation and Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and John Adams advocated a broader implied powers interpretation. Liberals today hold with the implied powers interpretation and conservatives and libertarians with the strict construction interpretation. Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated. They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpo...