The Constitution gives congress the the power of social welfare

The powers of the Federal government are few and defined, while the powers of the states are many and indefinite. This is made clear by the 10th amendment, which reads, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”. (1) The 10th amendment speaks volumes about our constitution, our federation, and the balance of power between the union state and the member states. The Federal Government may only exercise the authority specifically granted to it by the US constitution, which by its very nature is a restrictive document, establishing a limited federal government. Whenever I hear someone argue in favor of social welfare, they also make reference to the welfare clause. There are two clauses in the constitution that have been considered the “welfare clause”, in an attempt to expand the power of the federal government. The 1st “welfare clause” is in the preamble. The Preamble reads, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Prosperity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (2) The preamble itself is not a grant of power, but an explanation for the document that follows. The preamble is nothing more than a preliminary statement or an introduction to the constitution, and nothing in the preamble should be misconstrued as a grant of power. According to the oxford dictionary “welfare” simply means “the health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group”. (3) The oxford dictionary also defines “general” as “affecting or concerning all or most people, places, or things; widespread”. (4) The term “General Welfare” thus refers to “the health, happiness, and fortunes of all or most of the community”, in other words “the common good”. This correlates with the NH constitution, which predates the US constitution by 3 years. Section 1Article 1 of the NH constitution reads, “All men are born equally free and independent; therefore, all government of right originates from the people, is founded in consent, and instituted for the general good.” Again in Section 1 Article 10 the NH constitution reads, “Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.” (5)This has the same theme as expressed in the US constitution, and the phrase “general welfare” The phrase “social welfare” has a much different meaning than “general welfare”. The prefix “social” implies a form of “social service”. The oxford dictionary defines “social services” as “government services provided for the benefit of the community, such as education, medical care, and housing.” (6) “Social welfare” thus refers to “government services that provides for the health, happiness, and fortunes of the community”, in other words a redistributive policy, such as housing, bailouts, or unemployment benefits. As I already stated the preamble is not a grant of power, but there is also another clause often referred to as the “welfare clause”. It is located in article 1 section 8, and reads “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;” (7) The phrase “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” can be shorten to “The congress shall have the power to collect a revenue”. Therefore it reads “The Congress shall have Power To collect a revenue, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;” Notice where the punctuation marks are, and what is capitalized. The T is capitalized in “The Congress shall have Power”, and the T is again capitalized in “To collect a revenue” but the T is not capitalized in “, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;”, this means the first “To” is emphasized but the second “to” is not. “The Congress shall have” (emphasis) “Power” (emphasis) “To collect a revenue” (comma meaning a pause) “to pay the” (emphasis) “Debts and provide for the common” (emphasis) “Defence and general” (emphasis) “Welfare of the United States;” (Semicolon, meaning an end of the clause). The power granted in the clause is the power to collect revenue. The comma indicates a stipulation, or qualification of that power, which was “to pay Debts and to provide for the Defense and Welfare of the United States” The comma thus separates the grant of power, and the requirements to exercise that power. The word “provide” means “make adequate preparation for” (8) therefore” congress has the power collect a revenue, in order to make preparations for the military, and prosperity of the nation” The power of congress to provide for the common defense appears in a later clause in article 1 section 8, therefore, if congress had the power of “social welfare” it too would appear it later clauses. The so called “general welfare clause” is actually a revenue clause, and the term “welfare” is used in a restrictive sense rather than a general grant of power, as was the phrase “common Defense” in the same clause. Nowhere in the constitution is the phrase “welfare” used in the sense of “social welfare”, nor is there any place in the constitution, which uses it in a way that grants power to congress. It is instead used in a restrictive sense, as a qualification of the government’s power to collect a revenue, and unlike the phrase “common defense”, no other clause grants the government the authority of providing for the “welfare” of the nation, which leads me to believe the term “general Welfare”, was used to refer to any legislation not dealing with defense, being a qualification of the power to collect a revenue. Works Cited 1. [Online] http://www.usconstitution.net.... 2. [Online] http://www.usconstitution.net.... 3. [Online] http://oxforddictionaries.com.... 4. [Online] http://oxforddictionaries.com.... 5. [Online] http://www.nh.gov.... 6. [Online] http://oxforddictionaries.com.... 7. [Online] http://www.usconstitution.net.... 8. [Online] http://oxforddictionaries.com....