Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/397

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CH. XIV.]

POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXES.

389

er to do whatever evil they pleased. It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will bear either of two meanings, to give that, which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that, which will render all the others useless. Certainly, no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up strictly within the enumerated powers, and those, without which, as means, those powers could not be carried into effect.^[1]

§ 924. The same opinion has been maintained at different and distant times by many eminent statesmen.^[2] It was avowed, and apparently acquiesced in, in the state conventions, called to ratify the constitution;^[3] and it has been, on various occasions, adopted

↑ Jefferson's Opinion on the Bank of the United States, 15th February, 1791; 4 Jefferson's Correspondence, 524, 525.—This opinion was deliberately reasserted by Mr. Jefferson on other occasions. There may, perhaps, also be found traces of an opinion still more restrictive in his later writings: but they are very obscure and unsatisfactory. See 4 Jefferson's Correspondence, 306, 416, 457; Message of President Jefferson, 2d December, 1806; 5 Wait's State Papers, 453, 458, 459.
↑ It was maintained by Mr. Hamilton, in his Treasury Report on Manufactures, (5th Dec. 1791,) and in his argument on the constitutionality of a National Bank, 23d Feb. 1791, p. 147, 148; by Mr. Gerry in the debate on the National Bank in Feb. 1791,(4 Elliot's Debates, 226;) by Mr. Ellsworth in a speech in 1788,(3 American Museum, 338;) and by President Monroe, in his Message of the 4th of May, 1822, (p. 33 to 38,) in an elaborate argument, which well deserves to be studied. He contends, that the power to lay taxes is confined to purposes for the common defence and general welfare. And that the power of appropriation of the monies is coextensive, that is, that it may be applied to any purposes of the common defence or general welfare. Mr. Adams, in his Letter to Mr. Speaker Stevenson, 11th of July, 1832, published since the preparation of these Commentaries, has given a masterly exposition of the clause, to which it may be important hereafter again to recur.
↑ 2 Elliot's Debates, 170, 183, 195, 328, 344; 3 Elliot's Debates, 262; 2 American Museum, 434; 1 Elliot's Debates, 311; id. 81, 82; 3 Elliot's Debates, 262, 290; 2 American Museum, 544.

[1] Jefferson's Opinion on the Bank of the United States, 15th February, 1791; 4 Jefferson's Correspondence, 524, 525.—This opinion was deliberately reasserted by Mr. Jefferson on other occasions. There may, perhaps, also be found traces of an opinion still more restrictive in his later writings: but they are very obscure and unsatisfactory. See 4 Jefferson's Correspondence, 306, 416, 457; Message of President Jefferson, 2d December, 1806; 5 Wait's State Papers, 453, 458, 459.

[2] It was maintained by Mr. Hamilton, in his Treasury Report on Manufactures, (5th Dec. 1791,) and in his argument on the constitutionality of a National Bank, 23d Feb. 1791, p. 147, 148; by Mr. Gerry in the debate on the National Bank in Feb. 1791,(4 Elliot's Debates, 226;) by Mr. Ellsworth in a speech in 1788,(3 American Museum, 338;) and by President Monroe, in his Message of the 4th of May, 1822, (p. 33 to 38,) in an elaborate argument, which well deserves to be studied. He contends, that the power to lay taxes is confined to purposes for the common defence and general welfare. And that the power of appropriation of the monies is coextensive, that is, that it may be applied to any purposes of the common defence or general welfare. Mr. Adams, in his Letter to Mr. Speaker Stevenson, 11th of July, 1832, published since the preparation of these Commentaries, has given a masterly exposition of the clause, to which it may be important hereafter again to recur.

[3] 2 Elliot's Debates, 170, 183, 195, 328, 344; 3 Elliot's Debates, 262; 2 American Museum, 434; 1 Elliot's Debates, 311; id. 81, 82; 3 Elliot's Debates, 262, 290; 2 American Museum, 544.

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