Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1830-06-04

tuition, that it would be expedicnt to propose to
the States an amendment authorizing il -
The constitutional power of the Federal Go.
vernment to construct or promote works of in
ternal improvement, presents itself i'm two points
ofview : the first, as bearing upon the soyer
eighty of the States within whose limits their
execution is contemplated, if jurisdiction ofihe
territory which they may occupy, be claimed
Us necessary to their preservation and use {: the
second, asserting the simple right to an.
propriate money from the national treasury in
aid of such works when undertaken by State
authority, surrcnGering the claim of jurisdiction
In the first view, the question of power is an
open one, ana can be decided without the en-.
barrassmcn, attending the other, arising from
the practice OF Government.
Although frequently and strenuously attcmpt.
ed, the power, to this extent, has never been cx
erciscd by the Government in a SINGLE instance
IL does not, in my opinion, posses it and no
bill, therefore, which admits it, can receive NV
official sanction.
But, in the other view of the power, the oues-
tion is differently situated. The ground take n
at an early period of the Government, was,
general authority, and is to be applied to par
ticular measure, question arises, whether the
particular measure be within the enumerated
authorities vested in Congress- fit be. Tho
money requisite for it may be applied to it if
not, no such application can be made" The
document in which this principle was first nd.
vanced is of deservedly high authority. and
should be held in grateful remembrance for it's
Immediate agency in rcscui ng the country from
much existing abuse, and for its conservative eff.
feet upon some ofthe most vamblc principIes
of the Constitution. The symmetry and purity
OF the Government would, doubtless, have been
better preserved, if this restriction of the power
of appropriation could have ben maintained
without weakening its ability to fulfill the gener
al objects of its institution an effect so likely
to attend its admission, notwithstanding its an
parent fitness, that every subsequent admins.
tration the Government, embracing period
OF thirty out of the iorty-two years of its exis.
tcnce, has adopted more enlarged construction
OF the power. 1t is not my purpose to detan
you by minute recital of the acts which sus
tam this assertion, but it is proper that should
notice some OF the most prominent. in order that
the reflections which they suggest to NV mind
may be better understood
In the administration of Mr.. Jefferson we
nave TWO examples OF the exercise Of the rirht
OF appropriation, which, in the consideration
that led to their adoption and in their effects nm
on the public mind, have had greater agency
I'D ma rking the character of the power than onv
subsequent events. 1 allude to the payment of
fifteen millions of dollars for the purchase of
LOUISIANA, and to the original appropriation fol
the construction of the Cumberland Road tn
latter act deriving much from the acquiesccnce
and APPRECIATION of three of the most powerful
of thu original members of the confederacv. ex
pressed through their respective legislatures
Although the circumstances of the latter case
may be such as to deprive so much of it as re-
lates to the actual construction of the road. of
the force OF an obligatory exposition of the Con-
su,ution 1t must, nevertheless, be admitted that
so tar as the mere appropriation of money is
concerned, they present the principle in its most
imposing aspect. No less than twenty. three
different laws have been passed through all the
forms OF the Constitution appropriating upwards
OF two millions and half of dollars out of the
National Treasury in support of that improve
ment, with the appreciation of every President
OF the United States, including my predecessor s.
since its commencement
Independently of the sanction given to ap.
preparations for the Cumberland and other roads
and objects, under this power, the administra
ton OF Mr.. Madison was characterised by an
act which furnishes the strongest evidence of
his opinion of its extent, bill was pass ed
through both houses of Congress, and presented
for his approval, 'setting apart and pedging
certain funds for constructing roads and canals,
and improving the navigation of water courses,
IN order to facilitate, promote, and give security
to internal commerce among the several States
and to render more easy, and less expensive,
the means and provisions for the common dc.
fence" Regarding the bill as asserting power
III the Federal Government to construct roads
and canals within the limits of the States in
winch they were made, he objected to its pas
sage, on the ground of its unconsttuiionaity
declaring that the assent of the respective
States, in the mode provided by the bill, could
not confer the power in question 4; that the only
cases in which the consent and cession of par.
tlcuiar States can extend the power of Congress-
are those specified and provided for in the Con-
stItutIon and superaGded to these avowals his
opinion, that " restriction of the power, to
provide for the common defence and repernl
welfare to cases which are 10 be provided for
by the expenditure of money would still leave
within the legislative power of Congress, all
the great and most important measures of Gro.
vemment, money being the ordinary and neces-
sary means of carrying them into execution"
have not been able to consider these declara-
lions in any othes point of view, than as con-
cession that the right ofappropriotion is not lin