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
There are several phrases in the Constitution that are regularly misrepresented. One of the most common is Congress’s power to provide for the “general welfare” of the United States. So let’s break down that phrase so we can understand it.
GEN’ERAL: Public; common; relating to or comprehending the whole community; as the general interest or safety of a nation.
WELFARE: Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.
Websters 1828 Dictionary
So, general welfare, when applied to the states, means the exemption from unusual evil or calamity and the enjoyment of peace, prosperity, and blessings of society for the community as a whole. The next logical question should be, “What community?”
Notice the Constitution does not say the general welfare of the people of the United States, nor the general welfare of the States, but of the United States. Today, when we think of the United States, we usually think of a nation broken into 50 subdivisions we call states, but when the Constitution was ratified, we had 13 independent states who joined together and delegated some of their powers to a central government called the United States. This distinction may seem trivial, but it is actually quite important. If the United States is a single government subdivided into smaller units we call states, then Washington rules and your states are really colonies of Washington, not much different than their condition in 1776 under British rule. If, however, we are 50 sovereign states who have delegated some of their power to the union, and if the term United States refers to the union and its central government, then the meaning of the phrase, “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” means something different. It means that Congress can collect taxes to pay the debts of the federal government, not those of the states. It means Congress can collect taxes to pay for the defense of the nation as a whole, not the defense of individual states. And most importantly, it means Congress can collect taxes to pay for the general welfare of the United States, not the people or the individual states.
I know this is not what we’ve been taught, and you may be thinking that I’m pulling this out of thin air. Actually I looked to the words of James Madison, known as the “Father of the Constitution”, when he was debating the Cod Fisheries bill in the House of Representatives in February 1792. The bill in question included a provision for the central government to provide bounties to cod fisherman as a way to encourage people to join the profession. During the debate, on February 3rd, Mr. Giles said:
The present section of the bill (he continued) appears to contain a direct bounty on occupations; and if that be its object, it is the first attempt as yet made by this government to exercise such authority; — and its constitutionality struck him in a doubtful point of view; for in no part of the Constitution could he, in express terms, find a power given to Congress to grant bounties on occupations: the power is neither {427} directly granted, nor (by any reasonable construction that he could give) annexed to any other specified in the Constitution.
Debate on the On the Cod Fishery Bill, granting Bounties, House of Representatives, February 3, 1792
No one, not even those who supported the bill, could come up with any reasonable way of showing that the Constitution gave Congress this power. Later, on February 7th, Mr. Madison went into a detailed explanation of why the common defense and general welfare clauses could not be used to justify Congress having the power to spend money in that way.
It is to be recollected that the terms “common defence and general welfare,” as here used, are not novel terms, first introduced into this Constitution. They are terms familiar in their construction, and well known to the people of America. They are repeatedly found in the old Articles of Confederation, where, although they are susceptible of as great a latitude as can be given them by the context here, it was never supposed or pretended that they conveyed any such power as is now assigned to them. On the contrary, it was always considered clear and certain that the old Congress was limited to the enumerated powers, and that the enumeration limited and explained the general terms.
Debate on the On the Cod Fishery Bill, granting Bounties, House of Representatives, February 3, 1792
In short, never before had it been considered that Congress would have the power to collect taxes to be used for anything it thought was good or for the general welfare. Mr. Madison went on to describe the dangers of granting Congress such power.
If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their Own hands; they may a point teachers in every state, county, and parish, and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision for the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress; for every object I have mentioned would admit of the application of money, and might be called, if Congress pleased, provisions for the general welfare.
Debate on the On the Cod Fishery Bill, granting Bounties, House of Representatives, February 3, 1792
Mr. Madison recognized that if we gave Congress the power to determine what is and is not for the general welfare of the United States, then every portion of your life would be under the control of Congress. As we see today, Congress has inserted itself into education, traffic laws, and even state and local law enforcement. While I did not mention religion as Mr. Madison has, it is only because Congress has abdicated their responsibility to oversee the courts, who have taken care to arbitrate religious views. Because Congress routinely delegates their powers to the executive and judicial branches, we now live in a nation where literally everything is a federal case.
In short, sir, without going farther into the subject. Which I should not have here touched at all but for the reasons already mentioned, I venture to declare it as my opinion, that, were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited government established by the people of America; and what inferences might be drawn, or what consequences ensue, from such a step, it is incumbent on us all to consider.
Debate on the On the Cod Fishery Bill, granting Bounties, House of Representatives, February 3, 1792
Mr. Madison was right. As we have seen through history, Congress’ appetite for control over the citizenry has grown without limit or restraint. The very idea that there are limitations on the federal government is all but heresy in today’s political and judicial environments. No limitations exist on Congress but what the supreme Court bothers to decree and the role of the states is no longer even considered. I wish previous generations had bothered to consider the consequences of giving Congress power beyond their constitutional boundaries and can only encourage that we today not only consider them, but begin enforcing those boundaries again.
