Necessary And Proper Clauses

The vast power of the federal government has been on the rise, crippling the state’s authority. In the early 1800’s there have been cases where the Supreme Court has ruled, for the most part, in the federal government’s benefit. With the Legislative and Judicial Branches making up 2/3 of the federal government’s power, many could speculate the two powers are working to strengthen the federal government. However, the ruling was based off of Necessary and Proper Clause, where it is said that Congress (Legislative Branch) has the authority “to find the great powers, to lay and collect taxes; to borrow money; to regulate commerce; and to declare and conduct a war.” When the states interfere it causes the Judicial Branch to step in and decide what

The reason Congress is given this ability is because Congress has assumed the position in order to better do its job. In many cases the Supreme Court has had to decide whether the interference of Congressional actions were constitutional, in the majority of these court cases the outcome has benefited the federal government. For instance, the case over McCulloch v. Maryland Chief Justice, John Marshall, interpreted the Necessary and Proper Clause, by conveying that the federal government (Congress) has the ability, under Necessary and Proper clause “to find the great powers, to lay and collect taxes; to borrow money; to regulate commerce; to declare and conduct a war; and to raise and support armies and navies. The sword and the purse, all the external relations, and no inconsiderable portion of the industry of the nation are entrusted to its Government.” Since the government collects taxes and borrows money, when Maryland did not comply with the U.S. National Bank they got in the way of tax collection. The McCulloch and Gibbons’ cases had an impact on regulation of

Thomas Jefferson disagrees with the idea that Congress could broadly interpret the clause’s powers, because he believes that when the majority of Congress does, it will enable them to do whatever they want to do. And Jefferson says, “…it (Congress) would be also a power to do whatever evil they please and this can never be permitted.” Congress has had the ability to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” through the Necessary and Proper Clause, establishing federal power, regulating future endeavors, this has led to speculation within our government. Even with the controversy of the Necessary and Proper Clause, many would say that this clause has helped with future endeavors, such as railroads and computers. However, we see that time and time again the powers of the state our over-powered by the federal government, as we saw in the McCulloch v. Maryland case. As many founding fathers fought over what extent The Necessary and Proper Clause should be used, we find that most Anti-federalist disagreed with the clause; and the Federalist agreed for what the clause stood for. The federal government has changed over the years; gaining power from the