Enumerated_Powers_of_Congress

What it is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about the Constitution of the United States' For most people they think of the Bill of Rights, and the rights and freedoms they invoke. They would be right to an extent, but what they fail to realize is that the Constitution more importantly grants enumerated powers to the three different branches of government. Along with these powers, the Constitution also creates a series of checks and balances. These checks and balances keep one branch of government from having too much power. Between these three branches, none has as many enumerated powers listed than the legislative branch of government. The Constitution is broken down into many different parts called “Articles.” In the first three articles of the Constitution, each branch of government is defined, and their enumerated powers are stated. The first article is devoted to the legislative branch, the second article to the executive branch, and the third to the judicial branch. You can find the list of enumerated powers of the legislative branch under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution. These powers include: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock- Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof. (Constitution Art. I § 8 , 1787) The list of Congresses enumerated powers may seem immense, but some of these powers are used frequently, while others almost never at all. Lets take Congresses power to create and levy taxes. (Constitution Art. I § 8 , 1787) You hear debates about this in the media all the time. In fact, many political campaigns are ran on the platform of either cutting existing taxes, or promising that no new taxes will be created. Senator John McCain from Arizona, pledged this in his most recent senate election campaign. While congress practices this power numerously, they hardly ever exercise other powers; such as the power of impeachment. Under the Constitution "the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." (Constitution Art. II § 4, 1787) In the history of American government this has only been occurred 16 times; including two U.S. Presidents. The first person to be impeached by congress was Senator from Tennessee William Blount in 1799. He was impeached by the house, but was later dismissed of charges by the senate.(B Brunner) Under the Constitution, only the House of Representatives may draft articles of impeachment, and the Senate is responsible for deciding if they are guilty of the crime, and if the crime is grounds for removal from office by a two-thirds majority vote. (Constitution Art. I § 2 & 3, 1787) Of the two presidents impeached, Johnson in 1868 and Clinton in 1998, neither were found guilty by the senate, or removed from office. (B Brunner) When our founding fathers were drafting the Constitution, they were well aware of the evils of man, and power. That’s why when they were creating the Constitution, devices of checks and balances were incorporated into the document. They knew that enlightened statesmen would not always be in control, and they wanted a safe guard from one branch of the government from becoming too powerful. An example of such checks and balances is the ability to pass bills of legislation. Congress, or the legislative branch, has sole power to author new bills, but because of the presidents, or the executive branch, power of “veto” congress is kept from passing any legislation they want. There are stipulations to the presidents power of veto, he is only allowed to veto a bill that comes to his desk twice. Therefore, if congress passes a piece of legislature a third time, after the president has already vetoed it twice, then the bill automatically becomes law. Another stipulation to there power of veto, is the fact that if a bill is brought to the presidents desk, and is unsigned or vetoed after 10 days, excluding Sundays, the bill becomes law by default. Another check against congresses ability to pass bills can be found in the judicial branch. The judicial branch has the power of judicial review and can revoke any bill, or law they deem to be unconstitutional. Evidence of this can be seen in the cases of Brown vs. Board of Education (Janda, 2009.) In that case, the Supreme Court found that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, and forced segregation incurred. Also in that forced segregation fight, the president, exercised one of his enumerated powers of executive order and commander of the armed forces to force school officials to desegregate their schools, by calling in the national guard. Even though the Constitution was ratified over 200 years ago, and several amendments have been added to its content, it remains to be a solid footing for our government to operate on. Therefore because of the enumerated powers granted to each branch, and the checks and balances created to keep power equally distributed that the same type of democracy envisioned by its framers is still identifiable today in our own government. References Brunner, B.. (2007). In A Short History of Impeachment. Retrieved Apr. 24, 2010, from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/impeach.html Janda, & Berry, & Goldman. (2009). The challenge of democracy. ( Lisa. Williams, Ed.). Boston, Ma: Wadsworth U. S. Constitution, Art. I, § 2, & 3, & 8. U. S. Constitution, Art. II, § 4.