Promoting the General "Welfare" . . .What did Madison Say
- February 05, 2010 10:07:10
- Read all 34 opinions
The preamble serves as a missions statement if you would of the constitution it was never meant to be used to define the intent of the framers - that is what the actual constitution is to be used as. The preamble is not by any means a delegation of powers, enumerated or otherwise, to the federal government. It is simply a stated purpose – a mission statement - in today’s terminology and the body of the constitution is America’s policies and procedures manual. The word welfare appears only twice in the constitution. Once in the preamble and once in article 1, section 8:
So what did Madison actually think. Here are some great quotes from some of his writings to shine some light on his thoughts . . .that happened in and around the time of the writing of the constitution:
“If Congress can do whatever
in their discretion can be done by money, and its (sic) will promote the General Welfare,
the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an
indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions." James Madison, Letter to
Edmund Pendleton, January 21, 1792 "I cannot undertake to
lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to
Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." James Madison, regarding an
appropriations bill for French refugees, 1794 "Congress has not
unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those
specifically enumerated." - Thomas Jefferson
"With respect to the
words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail
of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense
would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a
host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators." James Madison,
Letter to James Robertson, April 20, 1831
Seems like the writers of the constitution and our founding fathers have a different opinion of promote the general welfare than the current group of legislators attempting to enslave us by their very actions. The framers of the constitution
provide a clear and marked difference with reference to "promoting the general welfare" as applied to
persons and states. In the Constitution the words "promote the general welfare" are used in
the context of states and not persons. The term "promote the general"
is not equivalent with the welfare of individuals, people, or citizens but as the term "general" is used refers to the collective whole. No where in the constitution is congress granted the unchecked power and authority to provide for the general welfare . . .they are to promote it. Welfare as defined by an
1828 version of Webster’s (a definition used when the constitution was written) makes a clear distinction between the word welfare as it
applies to individual persons and then as it applies to states or a collective group. As it apples to states (or the "general) the definition of the
word welfare implies the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary
blessings of society and a civil government.
I do not believe, nor does the constitution grant congress the power to pass a large majority of the legislation it does today. In particular, a reasonable argument and debate cannot even be framed that they intended the term general welfare to be used as it is.
he founding fathers espoused a limited government with most of the powers delegated and handled by the states and it is time we return to that original intent.
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SUPER ZOOM IT..
Provide: to supply or make available
I see it as the government will not intervine in a direct manner in the private business affairs of the people but basically create a positive atmosphere so that we can be successful based on our own efforts. That to me means low taxes and less government intrusion into our lives.
- No Country could trade with the colonies(that's us) unless the goods were transported on English Ships 1st. (That means added cost to the colonial customer because of higher taxes and fees for English Ships)
- The Colonies could only export certain products like tobacco, sugar, molasses and rice to England ONLY! (Eventhough they could probably get a better price elsewhere they were forced to sell to England at a deep discount. They were losing money selling to England)
- Almost everything sent to the colonies from elsewhere had to go through an English port 1st. Which means more taxes that are then passed on to the Colonial consumer and they paid a higher price.
It strangled any attempt by the colonies to develop their own industry and create a true free enterprise system. It is the tyranny of the government restricting their
need to find the highest bidder for their goods to make a profit.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such disolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convul...
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such disolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
Sorry does not sound like industrialist tyranny to me
Pray tell oh constitutional scholar, point to the article and section of the constititution where it enumerates powers granted to the federal government to create a state that provides helath care for all. I wait with baited breath for the exact article and section, please do not cite enumerated powers unless you are prepared to be nuked. Enumerated powers are powers given to the federal government by the terms of the U.S. Constitution - mor eslowly so you may absorb it, enumerated powers are limited by the enitre context of the constitution . . .so what article, what section, cites the provision of healthcare, social security, medicare, medicaid? What article gives congress the right to confiscate the wealth and industry of others and redistribute it to those whow woudl not work? Not those that cannot, those who will not. Not that a goofball liberal would read history and actually learn from it...
Pray tell oh constitutional scholar, point to the article and section of the constititution where it enumerates powers granted to the federal government to create a state that provides helath care for all. I wait with baited breath for the exact article and section, please do not cite enumerated powers unless you are prepared to be nuked. Enumerated powers are powers given to the federal government by the terms of the U.S. Constitution - mor eslowly so you may absorb it, enumerated powers are limited by the enitre context of the constitution . . .so what article, what section, cites the provision of healthcare, social security, medicare, medicaid? What article gives congress the right to confiscate the wealth and industry of others and redistribute it to those whow woudl not work? Not those that cannot, those who will not. Not that a goofball liberal would read history and actually learn from it but many of the grievances Jefferson outlayed against England and King George Many which led to our revolt, are today the ordinary occurances in and daily operations of our out of control federal government.
By your own ignorance, whether purposeful or purely because of your own inabilities to read and absorb information that is not spoon fed to you, you completely negate the history of this country and the writing of the constiution. You also completely ignore the obvious contemporary occurances that led to our separation from England. Madison and Jefferson both thought that the best federal government was a limited one and that the tenth amendment gave the states all the necessary powers to provide for its populations and that it was not the federal government's responsibility to be the nanny to everyone.
So in complete context, cite the artilce and section with historical adjudication that supports it . . . we all await your repsonse