The Necessary And Proper Clauses

Another provision in the Constitution that was used to defend the constitutionalist of a national bank was the ‘regulate commerce with foreign nations’ clause. Jefferson argues that this is again unnecessary because the creation of the bank and the regulating commerce are two very different propositions. One is making something to be bought and sold while another is regulating things that are being bought and sold. Jefferson makes it clear that a bank is not necessary to regulate commerce in the United States or in foreign nations with a national bank. (1)

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.

However, the state of Maryland tried to block the activity of the national bank by imposing tax to all the notes that were issued. The branch manager of the bank in Baltimore refused to pay taxes and lawsuits were filed in the Maryland Court. However, the case was brought up to the U.S Supreme Court as the Constitution did not subjectively describe that Federal Government had the authority to establish a bank. The U.S Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Marshall ruled out the case that acknowledges that the Congress has the rights to establish a national bank under Article 1 Section 8 in the American Constitution. This shows that the US Constitution was vaguely described and gave the Congress an insight to pass laws as long as it is within the Constitution. However, this gave the Federal Government to create the mentality to indirectly gain more power which restricts the States sovereignty.

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 Necessary and Proper clause gave congress to make all the laws that should be necessary and proper to carry into execution. (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18). The Necessary and Proper Clause was also called the elastic clause that gave powers to Congress that were implied in the Constitution. Necessary means required or essential to. Necessary required congress to execute the powers that were granted in the constitution. John Marshall the Chief Justice wrote his opinion to the court stated that the constitution gave congress all the power to make all the laws.

The Constitution was written in order to replace the Articles of Confederation and create a centralized government. Times continue to change, and therefore laws must be altered such to keep up with those changes. This was the sole purpose of the amending process of the Constitution. The purpose of the very first amendment was to allow Congress the authority to get involved with state powers that was not allowed at first. This article, Article 1, has been very controversial and confusing at times. It has been a part of our judicial system in judgment of laws and their necessity and still affects us today.

The Necessary and Proper Clause is part of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Americans love the Constitution but little do they actually know about its powers. Powers, established in statements, which come along with bills from the House of Representatives, are tried by the Necessary and Proper Clause and determined Constitutional or unconstitutional.

One of the Articles of the Constitution is about the Legislative Branch, or the congress. It tells them what they can and can’t do to people. It shows how it will be broken up into 2 houses of government, and what lawmaking abilities they can use. It gives them a certain amount of power, which helps our country. The framers wrote this detailed description for the legislative branch so that always knew

A cartoon created by the Whigs during the election of 1832 portrayed in Document E illustrates how Jackson has taken on so much power and becomes a tyrannical ruler. He stands with the veto power in one hand and a scepter, symbol of authority in the other. In addition, Jackson is also stepping on the U.S. Constitution under one foot and two important creations of Congress, Internal Improvements and The Bank of the United States. Taking all the details together, we can tell that Jackson is thwarting Constitutional democracy. Document F, Jackson’s Veto Message to Congress explains how the rechartering of the National Bank could hurt the nation. Of the twentyfive directors of the bank, five are chosen by government and twenty by the citizen stockholders. Thus,the rich might “bend the acts of government for their selfish purposes.” The evidence shows that Jackson wanted to benefit the rich class instead of the nation as a whole. Jackson’s veto was undemocratic because he did not let the citizens have a say in the workings of government. By vetoing the recharter bill, it would create conflict which would weaken the

In McCuloch v Maryland, the court turned to the "necessary" and "proper" clause which grants Congress enumerated powers which include the power to regulate collect taxes. President Jackson explains the necessity in regards to the functions that the bank is trying to fulfill: The "degree of its necessity,”

8). The second reason he interpreted the constitution this way was because if the Constitution were to be interpreted loosely, it would pose a threat towards Slavery. Jefferson had supported slavery, and did not want the government to be able to gain more power through the clause, and in the long run, eventually ending slavery in America. The final reason Jefferson opposed Hamilton's interpretation was because Hamilton was using his loose interpretation to his advantage, creating a bank to further push his financial plan into motion, which was the exact opposite of what Jefferson wanted as it went against all of his beliefs. Jefferson was trying to stop Hamilton's plan, and one way was to stop the abuse of the “Necessary and Proper” clause.

In addition to saving the integrity of the Federalist-dominated Supreme Court in the case of Marbury v. Madison, John Marshall also promoted certain Federalist principles, including the idea of a strong national government. From the years when the Constitution was being created, Alexander Hamilton fought for the creation of a national bank since he believed it was “necessary and proper” for the growth and development of the United States (“The Marshall Court”). As Hamilton and the Federalist Party had hoped, a national bank was created and one of its branches was placed in Baltimore, Maryland. State legislators from Maryland were not satisfied with the progress the bank was making because the negligent behavior of its bank officials was bringing the bank under (Newmyer, 295). To save their citizens from having to deal with the bank’s faulty leadership, the legislators attempted to drive the branch out of the state by placing a tax on all the banknotes issued by the bank. When the tax was purposely left unpaid, Maryland sued the cashier of the bank--James McCulloch. In the state courts, Maryland won its case,

But the articles denied Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce and enforce laws. Because of this, the central government had to request donations from the states to finance its operations and raise armed forces. The states attempted to limit the power of the national government because they feared that it would become a monarchy. In an effort to limit the power of the national government, Congress created one without enough power to govern effectively, which led to serious national and international problems.

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