Edited sentence: "Having considered the bill this day presented to me entitled 'An act to set apart and pledge certain funds for internal improvements,' and which sets apart and pledges funds 'for constructing roads and canals, and improving the navigation of water courses'."The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.45 James Madison is clear that infrastructure beyond defending liberty is sovereignty retained by the states:.I am constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution of the United States to return it with that objection to the House of Representatives.In Federalist No.On March 3, 1817 President Madison's veto affirmed that highways and canals were not part of the "post Roads" enumerated power:.The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers.The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite