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F E A T U R E S
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FEATURES
What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of
our security in a Republic?...A sacred respect for the
constitutional law is the vital principle...of a free government.”
–Alexander Hamilton
Eleven years after
they
declared the nation’s indepen-
dence, the Founders drafted a
constitution for the United States
that reflected to a large degree
the principles the Declaration
had set forth. The document
called for a limited national gov-
ernment, which ratification brought into being
in 1789. In drafting the Constitution, the
Founders needed to establish a government at
once strong enough to secure our rights, and do
the few other things they thought it should do,
yet not so strong as to violate rights in the
process. Toward that end they gave the nation-
al government limited powers, then limited the
exercise of those powers through an intricate
system of checks and balances.
The Doctrine of Enumerated Powers
It was the doctrine of enumerated powers
that was meant to constitute the principal
defense against overweening government. Since
all power began with the people, the people
could limit their government simply by giving it,
through the Constitution, only certain of their
powers. That, precisely, is what they did,
through enumeration, thus making it clear that
the government had only such powers as were
found in the document.
The very first sentence of the Constitution,
following the Preamble, makes the point: “All
legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested
in a Congress . . .” (emphasis added).
The point is reiterated in the Tenth Amend-
ment, the final documentary statement of the
Founding period: “The powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohib-
ited by it to the Stat