The Elastic Clause: The Necessary And Proper Clause

He defines necessary very strictly citing that power given to the national government has to be absolutely necessary for the government to take that power. He continues that though it might be convenient or nice for the national government to have this power that it is not strictly necessary for the government to have. (1)

The people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, had to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote Welfare, and protect the Blessing of Liberty to

The Necessary and Proper Clause was an important addition to our federal government’s expansion. In fact, the Necessary and Proper clause was vital to our current government setting. With the expansion of the federal government we see that you can take ideas from different people, and compromise to come to a meeting point on important issues, like the expansion of ideas that needed to be readdressed, and changed.

“The United States Constitution is the oldest written national constitution still in use” (Confederation and the Constitution, pg. 71). After more than 200 years, the Constitution is still changing to support the next generations needs. This “living document” has many different reasons that allow it to “fit in” with the new generations.

This book emphasizes the alternative interpretations offered by Americans on the origins of the Constitution. Holton’s purpose with this book was to show that the framers interests involved making America more attractive to investors. In order to do so, they purposefully made the government less democratic with the writing of the Constitution. However, with the addition of the Bill of Rights, one could argue the Framers had at least a slight concern for the American people and their civil liberties.

This was for several reasons, primarily being the hypocrisy of using the “necessary and proper clause” after having attacked Hamilton relentlessly for having used the same clause to set up a National Bank. It is obvious just how much hypocrisy was taking place when we see Jefferson comments regarding the National Bank, in which he said, “

Some might think that it gives Congress the power to do whatever it wants to do, but that is not so. Congress should only use this clause to create legislation directly relating to an expressed power in the Constitution. The laws should only be what is necessary and proper. If legislation does not meet either of these requirements, it is not in Congress’s power to enact it. The necessary and proper clause, though sometimes used correctly, has often been misused. One example can be found in a court case that took place in 1896 (United States v. Gettysburg Electric Rail Co.). The case decided whether Congress had the power to condemn a railroad’s land. The necessary and proper clause, wrongly used, justified that Congress had the power to condemn that land and create a park. Congress argued that this decision fell under Congress’s expressed power to raise and equip armies. This is just one example of many. When the national bank was created many people thought that this stretched the necessary and proper clause. The necessary and proper clause had been stretched many times. The clause is sometimes called the “elastic clause” because of its

The main points made in the book The Origins of the Necessary and Proper Clause by Gary Lawson,

In 1787-1788 federalist essays came to life thanks to James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton under the alias of “Publius”. This paper delves into the motivations of James Madison and how classical republicanism aided in the argument for the ratification.

The primary source is Federalist paper No. 10, which is a the first of James Madison’s contributions to the series of essays known as the Federalist Papers. This essay is a highly regarded paper among the collection. The Federalist No. 10 is merely rhetoric used to rationalize the benefits of a new system of government, explain how the new union will be constructed and most crucial to the essay, sway public opinion to support the ratification of the new constitution. This particular primary source is imperative to understanding the complexity of the United States government at the time of its birth as well as now. Madison makes an argument that the expansion of the federal government is necessary to protect liberty against the excess of democracy. The document reveals the advantages of a Republic and serves as an explanation as to why the U.S. espouses a Republican form of government and the Constitution.

The Louisiana Purchase is another course of action taken by Jefferson known for contradicting his strict constitutionalist views. Neglecting the fact that there is no clause in the

Currie, D. (1992), the Constitution in the Supreme Court: The First Hundred Years, 1789-1988, Pges152-155 (Univ. of Chicago).

In the book “A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution” by Carol Berkin she explains the constitution from start to finish from how it all began, to the debates inside the convention and finally the end product. Berkin takes the reader and puts him directly in the middle of the convention of 1786; throughout the book you can feel the excitement, the frustration, the tensions between delegates and the overall commitment to making a new government work for all.

One of Jefferson’s and Hamilton’s first disagreements began with the idea of a National Bank. Hamilton suggested that the government should create the Bank of the United States Jefferson protested because this was not allowed by the Constitution. Hamilton opposed the view of Jefferson and stated that the Constitution’s writers could not have predicted the need of a bank for the United States. Hamilton said that the right to create the Bank of the United States was stated in the “elastic” or the “necessary and proper” clause in which the Constitution gave the government the power to pass laws that were necessary for the welfare of the nation. “This dilemma revisits the ever lasting dispute between the “strict constructionists” (Jefferson) who believed in the strict interpretation of the Constitution by not going an inch beyond its clearly expressed provisions, and the “loose constructionists” (Hamilton) who wished to reason out all sorts of implications from what it said”. Just a few years later, under President Jefferson, the federal government of the United States

Throughout the history of this nation, the Constitution, from the formation to the execution thereof, has set forth the precedent for the demonstration of excessive federal power that is clearly illustrated by history and modern America. Sufficient documentation to back up this premise includes primary documents such as James Madison’s Federalist No. 10, the Constitution of the United States, and other historical pieces. Ample consideration should be given to the paramount decisions of America’s elected officials in critical moments as well in the very construction of the American system of government that favors federalism.