What did our founders really mean when they said “general welfare”?

[BS Filter]

Stupid uneducated low information Moon Bats are as confused about what "general welfare" means as they are confused about "a well regulated militia".

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

 

[danielpalos]

access to healthcare is providing for the general welfare. we have a First World economy.

The Supreme Court disagreed with you.

where?

Google Supreme Court and welfare claus. Duh!

no programs have been ruled unconstitutional because they exceeded the general welfare.

That isn't the point. The definition of the welfare clause is the point.

we have a general welfare clause not a limited or common welfare clause.

 

[danielpalos]

Stupid uneducated low information Moon Bats are as confused about what "general welfare" means as they are confused about "a well regulated militia".

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Tara Ross has a timely post today:

On this day in 1825, the Erie Canal opens. Did you know that the project was not funded by the federal government? It could have been but for one thing: the Father of the Constitution, James Madison, was President at a critical moment. He vetoed a funding bill because of concerns about its constitutionality.

Yes, you heard that right. Madison vetoed an important transportation bill because he thought it was inconsistent with the Constitution.

Obviously, the project flourished, even without federal intervention. The State of New York assumed responsibility for the canal—and reaped the benefits once it was completed.

Perhaps a little background helps to explain why Madison’s veto was so important.

Modern Americans live in a world in which trains, planes, and freight trucks can move things quickly from place to place. By contrast, our Founders lived in a world in which water transportation was much more critical. For New York in the late 1700s, a water route toward the west was much needed. Overland transportation through the state’s mountains could be difficult. No river moved westward into the country.

The idea of a man-made waterway stretching more than 300 miles from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes seemed crazy and grandiose, and the idea was not immediately accepted as feasible. But such a route was also badly needed. Some New Yorkers worked long and hard to obtain funding. They seemed to succeed in 1817 when Congress finally appropriated funds.

That bill was quickly smacked down by none other than James Madison. On his last full day in office, President Madison vetoed the bill. Madison, you may remember, is known as the Father of the Constitution because of his great influence before, during, and after the Constitutional Convention.

Shouldn’t his statements on this simple transportation bill give modern Americans pause, particularly when considering the vast array of federally funded projects that have become normal in our lifetime?

Madison vetoed the Erie Canal funding, as he explained, because he was “constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution of the United States.” The power of funding internal improvements is “not expressly given by the Constitution,” and he refused to engage in an “inadmissible latitude of construction.”
Madison specifically rejected the notion that the General Welfare Clause allowed Congress to act. “Such a view of the Constitution would have the effect of giving to Congress a general power of legislation instead of the defined and limited one hitherto understood to belong to them,” he wrote. The “permanent success of the Constitution,” he concluded, “depends on a definite partition of powers between the General and the State Governments.”

Where has that “definite partition of powers” gone in recent years?

Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson was in full agreement with Madison’s veto. A few months later, he wrote: “I think the passage and rejection of this bill a fortunate incident. . . . [It] will settle forever the meaning of this phrase, which, by a mere grammatical quibble, has countenanced the General Government in a claim of universal power.”

It was “settle[d] forever”? Hmmm.

After Madison’s veto, the New York State Assembly quickly approved funding for the canal. Construction broke ground within a matter of months. Once completed, the canal was soon turning a profit, and its costs were easily recouped within 9 years. Business boomed! Economically, positive effects were felt for decades.

Maybe today is more than just a canal’s birthday. It is a celebration of what the state governments can do when they rely on themselves and their own citizens instead of the federal government.

P.S. The attached painting is of a mural that hangs in DeWitt Clinton High School in New York: “Marriage of the Waters,” by C.Y. Turner.

-------------
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Permalink: This Day in History: The Erie Canal, built without federal aid | Tara Ross

#TDIH #OTD #AmericanHistory #USHistory #liberty #freedom #ShareTheHistory

 

[danielpalos]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

 

[Bootney Lee Farnsworth]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

Did you even bother to read with weatherman posted?

 

[Weatherman2020]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

Did you even bother to read with weatherman posted?

Yes, he thinks history is funny and gave it a smiley face.

He’s a moron.

 

[BS Filter]

Stupid uneducated low information Moon Bats are as confused about what "general welfare" means as they are confused about "a well regulated militia".

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

 

[danielpalos]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

Did you even bother to read with weatherman posted?

yes, i did.

 

[danielpalos]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

Did you even bother to read with weatherman posted?

Yes, he thinks history is funny and gave it a smiley face.

He’s a moron.

i have arguments, like men; not gossip, like women.

 

[danielpalos]

Stupid uneducated low information Moon Bats are as confused about what "general welfare" means as they are confused about "a well regulated militia".

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

 

[Bootney Lee Farnsworth]

Stupid uneducated low information Moon Bats are as confused about what "general welfare" means as they are confused about "a well regulated militia".

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

Tell me, Dan. What do you think the 9th Amendment means?

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

Did you even bother to read with weatherman posted?

Yes, he thinks history is funny and gave it a smiley face.

He’s a moron.

i have arguments, like men; not gossip, like women.

Historical facts are gossip to you.

Pathetic Leftard.

 

[BS Filter]

Stupid uneducated low information Moon Bats are as confused about what "general welfare" means as they are confused about "a well regulated militia".

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

The Ninth Amendment doesn't cancel out the welfare clause. You're confused. Explain how the Ninth Amendment endorses Government run healthcare for everyone.

 

[danielpalos]

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

Tell me, Dan. What do you think the 9th Amendment means?

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Our federal Constitution is Express not Implied, every time the People question it.

 

[danielpalos]

Post roads may need Post canals. The power to provide for the general welfare is general.

no infrastructure so the Rich can take better advantage of public policies. typical republican doctrinaire policies.

Did you even bother to read with weatherman posted?

Yes, he thinks history is funny and gave it a smiley face.

He’s a moron.

i have arguments, like men; not gossip, like women.

Historical facts are gossip to you.

Pathetic Leftard.

ad hominems are nothing but fallacy; even women can gossip.

 

[danielpalos]

lol. just right wing propaganda and rhetoric;

the right wing can't tell the difference between the common defense and the general warfare or common offense.

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

The Ninth Amendment doesn't cancel out the welfare clause. You're confused. Explain how the Ninth Amendment endorses Government run healthcare for everyone.

that is Your misinterpretation, bro.

The power to provide for the general welfare is general, not common.

 

[rightwinger]

Thomas Jefferson said it best

He is referring to independence and the British Empire.

Wrong again

He wrote it many years after the revolution

He also wrote the Declaration of Independence. Read it and see what he says about natural rights and the violation of those by the Crown.

Tell us

 

[BS Filter]

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

The Ninth Amendment doesn't cancel out the welfare clause. You're confused. Explain how the Ninth Amendment endorses Government run healthcare for everyone.

that is Your misinterpretation, bro.

The power to provide for the general welfare is general, not common.

You brought up the Ninth Amendment. What is the purpose of the Ninth Amendment?

 

[Bootney Lee Farnsworth]

The Supreme Court defines the Constitution, not you.

there is no interpretation; a literal reading will suffice.

So you don't respect the United States Supreme Court decisions. Nice.

we have a Ninth Amendment; either it is Express or it isn't.

Tell me, Dan. What do you think the 9th Amendment means?

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Our federal Constitution is Express not Implied, every time the People question it.

The 9th Amendment is a protection of individual richts not listed in the constitution. Abortion pro-choicers should be able to recite it from memory.

What you said about "express not implied" is completely off point.