Part 65 (1/2)

It was clearly expected that most of the governing powers to which the people were subject should be exercised by the states, and not by the national government. The national government was to exercise no powers except such as were DELEGATED to it in the Const.i.tution. These powers are important ones, but few in number, and are listed in section 8 of Article I. In order to make this limitation of powers perfectly clear, the tenth amendment declares that ”The powers not delegated to the United States by the Const.i.tution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people.” Certain powers were also expressly denied to the national government in section 9 of Article I.

Discuss the meaning of each clause in Article I, section 8.

Discuss the meaning of each clause in Article I, section 9.

THE SCOPE OF NATIONAL POWERS

The powers of the national government relate to interstate and foreign affairs, or to matters that the several states could not well regulate without confusion or injustice. For example, it was chiefly the confusion in matters pertaining to trade in the period following the Revolution that made the new government necessary.

Therefore power was given to it ”to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.”

So, also, it was given power ”to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures,” for varying systems of coinage and of weights and measures would be inconvenient. For similar reasons it was empowered ”to establish post-offices and post-roads,” ”to establish an uniform rule of naturalization” for immigrants, and ”to promote the progress of science and useful arts” by giving copyrights and patents to authors and inventors. The states, on the other hand, were expressly forbidden to exercise any control over some such matters of national and international concern in section 10 of Article I.

Read section 10, Art I, and discuss the reasons why the powers there mentioned should have been denied to the states.

THE SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES

Not only did the framers of the Const.i.tution carefully limit the powers that the national government might exercise, but they also introduced into the organization of the government various devices to control it and to prevent any of its parts from a.s.suming too much power. The most important of these is the system of CHECKS AND BALANCES. In our national government, as in the state governments, the legislative, executive, and judicial powers are SEPARATED. In early times in England, the king could make any laws he wished, he could enforce them as he pleased, and he controlled the courts of justice. In our government the legislature, composed of representatives of the people, makes the laws; the executive branch of government sees to their enforcement; and the courts, which are responsible neither to the legislature nor to the executive, interpret the laws and administer justice in accordance with the laws. This separation of powers is to prevent any one person or group of persons from exercising too much power, as the king did, and is a safeguard to the liberty of the people. But the separation of powers IS NOT COMPLETE. Each branch of government has A LIMITED CONTROL over the others. This const.i.tutes THE SYSTEM OF CHECKS AND BALANCES, which still further protects the people's liberties.

While the President cannot make the laws, he is given a check upon the lawmaking power of Congress by his veto power. On the other hand, he cannot, by an excessive use of his veto power, destroy the lawmaking power of Congress, because Congress may pa.s.s laws over the President's veto by means of a two-thirds vote.

The President cannot make a treaty, nor appoint men to office, without the consent of the senate; neither can he exercise his executive powers until Congress votes him the necessary money.

If Congress pa.s.ses a law that is contrary to the Const.i.tution the courts may declare the law void, and the executive cannot enforce it. The courts, on the other hand, are in a measure under the control of both Congress and the President, for Congress may create and destroy courts (except those created by the Const.i.tution), and the President, with the consent of the senate, appoints the judges.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CHECKS AND BALANCES

The ”checks and balances” in the organization of our government have been very effective in accomplis.h.i.+ng the purpose for which they were intended, namely, to protect the liberties of the people against despotic government. But they have also, at times, been an obstacle to team work and to effective service. It sometimes happens, for example, that the President represents one political party, while the majority of one or both houses of Congress are of the opposing party. The two branches of government may then enter into a struggle on partisan grounds, each trying to defeat the program of the other. Such a situation was probably unforeseen by the framers of the Const.i.tution, although it again reminds us of Was.h.i.+ngton's warning with regard to the dangers of the party spirit.

THE IMPLIED POWERS OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

With the growth of our nation, the national government has come to perform a vast amount of service, as we have seen in earlier chapters, and to regulate the lives of the people in a mult.i.tude of ways little dreamed of by the makers of the Const.i.tution. This has been possible because of the principle of IMPLIED POWERS in the Const.i.tution. This means that some of the powers expressly granted in the Const.i.tution have been broadly interpreted to IMPLY powers not expressly stated. There are certain clauses in the Const.i.tution that especially lend themselves to such broad interpretation. For example, after the enumeration of the powers which Congress may exercise, in section 8 of Article I, clause 18 of that section gives Congress power ”to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers ...” Another clause whose liberal interpretation has been responsible for much of the service performed by the national government is that giving it the power to regulate interstate commerce (Art. I, sec. 8, clause 3).

In the early days of our government the Federalist party, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Alexander Hamilton, proposed the creation of a NATIONAL BANK. The Republican party under Jefferson opposed this because the Const.i.tution did not expressly provide for it, and because it was feared that it would give the national government too much power. But the ”broad constructionists” argued that a national bank was a ”necessary and proper” means to enable the national government ”to borrow money on the credit of the United States” and to exercise other financial powers expressly granted in the Const.i.tution. The supreme court of the United States supported the latter view, and the national bank became a fact.

The building of roads and other internal improvements by the national government have always been opposed by the ”strict constructionists,” except where roads were clearly ”post-roads”

(Article 1, section.8, clause 7). But the ”broad constructionists”

argued that roads were ”necessary and proper” to provide ”for the common defense,” and also as a means ”to regulate commerce among the several states.”

Most of the work that the national government has done for the promotion of the public health, such as the pa.s.sage and enforcement of the ”pure food and drugs act,” the inspection of livestock and of slaughterhouses, and the attempt to regulate child labor, has been done under the authority of the clause giving Congress power to regulate interstate commerce.

EXPANSION OF POWERS BY JUDICIAL DECISION

It has been the duty of the Supreme Court of the United States to decide finally whether much of the new service undertaken by the national government is in accordance with the Const.i.tution or not, and this court has been responsible for most of the expansion of the service rendered, because of its liberal interpretation of the Const.i.tution.

Why should the power to regulate interstate commerce also give Congress the power to require the inspection of cattle in your neighborhood? or to forbid the use of harmful substances in patent medicines? or to forbid the employment in factories of children?

Find out what you can about the influence of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in extending the powers of the national government.

THE EXECUTIVE CENTRALIZED AND CONTROLLED

The Const.i.tution vests the executive power in the President of the United States (Art. II, sec. I), and he alone is responsible to the people for the execution of the laws. The people are protected against abuse of this power in the hands of one man by various const.i.tutional provisions. The President's term of office is limited to four years, though he may be reelected. In case of improper conduct in office, he may be removed by IMPEACHMENT. The impeachment charges must be brought against him by the House of Representatives, and the Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, must act as a court to try the case.