Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/463

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CH. XIV.]
POWERS OF CONGRESS—TAXES.
455
penditures under every grant. By it, as already observed, no new power will be taken from the states, the money to be appropriated being raised under a power already granted to congress. By it, too, the motive for giving a forced or strained construction to any of the other specific grants will, in most instances, be diminished, and, in many, utterly destroyed. The importance of this consideration cannot be too highly estimated; since, in addition to the examples already given, it ought particularly to be recollected, that, to whatever extent any specific power may be carried, the right of jurisdiction goes with it, pursuing it through all its incidents. The very important agency, which this grant has in carrying into effect every other grant, is a strong argument in favour of the construction contended for. All the other grants are limited by the nature of the offices, which they have severally to perform; each conveying a power to do a certain thing, and that only; whereas this is coextensive with the great scheme of the government itself. It is the lever, which raises and puts the whole machinery in motion, and continues the movement. Should either of the other grants fail, in consequence of any condition or limitation attached to it, or misconstruction of its powers, much injury might follow; but still it would be the failure of one branch of power, of one item in the system only. All the others might move on. But should the right to raise and appropriate the public money be improperly restricted, the whole system might be sensibly affected, if not disorganized. Each of the other grants is limited by the nature of the grant itself. This, by the nature of the government only. Hence, it became necessary, that, like the power to declare war, this power should