Commerce Clause Research Paper

The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, and Clause 3. The Clause states that the United States Congress shall power, “To regulate Commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” The Commerce Clause represents one of the most fundamental powers delegated to Congress. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Lopez and reversed his conviction, holding that, “Section 922, in the full reach of its terms, is invalid as beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause” (Source 1.)

To solve the problem of republican government in a nation as geographically vast and culturally and economically heterogeneous as the United States, the Federalists needed a political theory to combat this problem. Madison felt that factions posed the greatest danger to governments of the people. Through Federalist Paper No. 10, Madison described the effects and downsides to factions. In the paper he explains, the causes of faction cannot be removed; and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects. Faction will counteract faction, and all of them will keep each other in check. The more factions there are, the more competition there is to keep them in check. Madison explained that there are two methods of curing

Full Faith and Credit: a clause in Article IV of the Constitution requiring each state to recognize the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of all other states

The Federalist Papers Number 10 is written by James Madison and explains the necessity of the Constitution to protect our country from factions. A faction is “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent aggregate interests of the community (Publius, 72).” Publius states that there are two ways to get rid of factions. The first way to eliminate a faction is to take the Liberty away from all of the people in the faction. The other way to cure a faction is to give everyone the same opinion. Both of this solutions are not possible

In my opinion, the United States Constitution when it was first written was not just, however, after ratifying the Constitution throughout the years it has become a just document. When the Constitution was first written, it did have good points but, it still allowed slavery and did not allow women the right to vote. The 13th amendment which abolished slavery in the United States was not ratified until 74 years after the Bill of Rights was ratified. African American slaves were also not considered a whole person because of the ⅗ Compromise. Women were not granted the right to vote until the 19th amendment which gave all United States citizens the right to vote was ratified in 1920 which was 129 years after the original Constitution was ratified.

The Commerce Clause in Article 1, Section 8 states that Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce itself as well as the power to regulate local commerce if that local commerce has a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce. When Congress regulates an intrastate activity, there is a test that is used by the Supreme Court that determines whether Congress actually has the right to regulate this intrastate activity with some sort of economic effect. The Commerce Clause test is one that also goes on to explain that it is not just about one instance where if there is a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce, but as a whole having a substantial economic effect. Also, if the activity does deal with interstate commerce that has an economic effect, then Congress has the ability to regulate wages and any other instance of activity which includes all workers even if the workers do not produce the commerce. Section 1001 of the PSA states Congress’ intention to “establish a nationwide program to protect the public from the adverse effects of tainted and contaminated pharmaceutical products.” Section 5001 of the PSA establishes licensing and pharmaceutical production education requirements for “individuals employed by any pharmaceutical producer” and sets maximum hours such individuals can work. One could then argue that the Supreme Court is allowed to say that Section 5001 of the PSA is within Congress’ power to set maximum hours and make people

The United States government, adding Common Core to States and school systems, have broken the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. The government should not control the education standards. the powers not delegated to the Federal Government by the Constution are reserved to the States and the people respectively. The 10th Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights to regulate the power given to the Federal Government. However, the Federal Government overriden this by forcing Common Core into the school systems by saying the state will not be funded anymore if they

The Second Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and took place in 1787. Representatives from each state gathered to discuss how the Articles of Confederation were to be amended. Several documents were debated on and put into effect on this day. Many of representatives of the states had written their own plans for the government. Not one plan was followed, but the delegates came to a compromise that they could agree on. Here, the United States’ current Constitution was signed. It has been modified as the years pass, but this was the foundation of America’s current constitution. Delegates at the Second Constitutional Convention had many concerns about the government. The states did not want a dominating national government,

The Federalist Papers are a collection of eighty-five articles that explain the United States Constitution, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist Papers were written in response to the Anti-Federalist attacks on the ratification of the newly written U.S. Constitution in 1787. Federalist Paper 10 was authored by James Madison and published on November 22, 1787 under the pseudonym “Publius.” In Federalist Paper 10, James Madison addresses the question of how to guard against “factions.” To accomplish this, James Madison describes the meaning and importance of factions, explains how “Liberty is to factions what air is to fire,” and elaborates on why a republic could protect liberties

The tariff laws between the late 1828 and 1833 caused people like John C. Calhoun to realize that states should have the right reject laws passed by the federal government. This law forced the South to buy manufactured goods from U.S. manufacturers at a higher price. The southern states also received a reduced income from raw materials they sold to Northern manufacturers. This affected the Southern states economy and made many politicians angry, including Calhoun, the vice president and a politician from South Carolina. Later he wrote a nullification doctrine to express his opinions on the tariff. The nullification crisis greatly affected the growth of states’ rights over federal power. Because of the nullification crisis in South Carolina there were even thoughts of secession in the early 1830’s.

If I were capable to travel back in time to the constitutional convention and argue for a change, I would argue that the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendment should be higher up in the constitution near the first amendment. This is because of all of the discrimination that we are still having today in society. If we have these amendments first it would mean that everyone is equal and have the same freedoms. This is a problem in today’s society; even though everyone is equal, African Americans still believe that they are truly not equal.

Decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the United States continued to deal with European encroachment on their territory. A group of young congressmen, known as the War Hawks, were land hungry and favored war with Britain in hopes of true liberation and independence. Add filler here using Cochran ref. In the year 1799, a man named William Henry Harrison was elected Delegate to represent the land North-West of Ohio in Congress (Brief Sketch, 10). During Harrison’s term as Delegate, the state of Indiana formed from the territory he represented and was appointed Governor of Indiana. In order to continue westward expansion and attract settlers, President Jefferson encouraged Harrison to extract land treaties from numerous

The fact that Madison owned slaves did not prevent him from recognizing the inhumanity of slavery as an institution. He wrote on the subject of slavery, “the time will come when that dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our country, and filled so many with despair, will be removed.” The government described in Federalist No. 51 is exemplary, unlike the government that existed before the Constitution was ratified. It is important to accentuate what the founding fathers longed for America to be rather than what it was in their time. Madison was writing for a government that, in his belief, would come near to a quintessential example of Federalism. It is clear that slavery was not a part of the model nation Madison described in Federalist

Tariff of 1832 was a tax put in place to protect the northern industries that were suffering due to the low-priced imported goods. Due to this tariff, in the south it raised the cost of manufactured goods, and this anger the people in the south because it hurt the cotton industry. Causing more support for sectionalism

The comity clause advocates national unity in Article IV, Section Two, of the Constitution. This clause is important to our country, as it ensures that citizens are provided with privileges and immunities in all states. It also prevents states from giving special treatment to the local residents and discrimination from neighboring states. Indicated in Article IV, Section One, the full faith and credit clause orders the states to honor the judicial decisions and public acts, taking place in another state, guaranteeing that the judgment of one court will not be overlooked or ignored by the courts of other states. This is important for unifying the country and emphasizing respect towards authority between the states.