American Government for Dummies

An idiot's guide to the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. Federal Government

The powers delegated by the proposed constitution to the federal government, are few and defined…[and]…will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negociation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected.

James Madison, The Federalist No. 45

Time and again I have conversations with people who seem not to understand the framework for the “general government” (as the founders called it) laid out in the Constitution, and the (very) limited powers granted that government. Americans with whom I’ve had this discussions, more often than not, expect far more from the federal government than the Constitution authorizes, and they tend to revere the federal government as the ultimate authority for the country. This is not at all what the founders envisioned.

Herein I will bring together and summarize concepts I’ve outlined in other writings about the powers of the President and Congress in hopes that this will help some understand the limited nature of the responsibilities and authority of the central government. Most of what I will list here as bullet points is self-explanatory. I will clarify where I believe necessary for proper understanding.

First, the “chief executive officer,” the President. The President’s roles and responsibilities are outlined in Article II, Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution. They are as follows:

• He is the “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States” (Section 2, Clause 1)

• He has “Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States” (Section 2, Clause 1)

• He has “Power…to make Treaties”, “by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate…provided two thirds of the Senators present concur” (Section 2, Clause 2, emphasis mine)

• He will nominate and (with the advice and consent of the Senate) appoint “Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court,” and all other Officers of the United States whose offices are not created specifically by the Constitution (Section 2, Clause 2)

• He has the power to fill Senate vacancies that occur during recess of the Senate, but such appointments expire at the end of the next Senate session (Section 2, Clause 3)

• He will provide Congress occasional updates on the “State of the Union” and recommend, for Congress’ consideration, any measures he believes necessary and expedient (Section 3) - such recommendations must, of course, fall within Congress’ power

• He may call emergency sessions of Congress (Section 3)

• He will receive (foreign) Ambassadors and public Ministers (Section 3)

• He will be chief law enforcement officer for federal statutes by exercising his responsibility to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Section 3)

To summarize, the President hosts foreign leaders, makes treaties with foreign countries (though not without the Senate’s approval), is the highest-ranking officer in the military to whom all other officers are accountable, and is responsible for enforcing the laws written by Congress. That is pretty much the totality of all with which the President is tasked. He is not tasked with overseeing the economy, creating jobs, curing cancer, or pretty much anything else that isn’t listed here.

Next is Congress. Their list is longer, but not incredibly so. The roles and responsibilities of Congress are detailed in Article I, Section 8. According to that section, Congress has the 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” (Clause 1 - I will address “general Welfare” after all of the items are listed)

• borrow money on the credit of the United States (Clause 2)

• regulate commerce with foreign nations, between states, and with “Indian Tribes” (Clause 3)

• establish a “uniform Rule of Naturalization” (Clause 4)

• make laws regarding bankruptcies (Clause 4)

• coin money, regulate its value, and set standards for weights and measures (Clause 5) - notice the power regarding currency belongs to Congress, not the Federal Reserve or Treasury Department

• define punishment for counterfeiting (Clause 6)

• establish Post Offices and Post Roads (Clause 7)

• promote the progress of science and the arts by providing limited-time patents and copyrights (not funding) (Clause 8)

• constitute “Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court” (Clause 9)

• “define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations” (Clause 10)

• “declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water” (Clause 11)

• “raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years” (Clause 12)

• “provide and maintain a Navy” (Clause 13)

• “make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces” (Clause 14)

• “provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions” (Clause 15) - something they’ve failed to do, despite the issues at our southern border

• “provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States” (Clause 16) - some aspects of appointing and training militia is left to the states

• “exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over…the Seat of the Government of the United States” (Washington D.C.) and over all places used for military bases (Clause 17)

• “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States” (Clause 18, emphasis mine)

It may seem silly to basically list what can just as easily be read in the Constitution, but people seem not to read the Constitution, so here I am. These powers and responsibilities can be summarized into a couple of categories: creating and regulating the standard currency for the country, delivering mail, protecting intellectual capital, and all things regarding creating, regulating, organizing, and arming the military and declaring war, and raising taxes to support these activities.

All laws Congress writes are to be in support of these responsibilities, and there are no other powers granted Congress. But wait! What about the “general Welfare”?

This much abused phrase was also the topic of another piece I wrote , but I have since unearthed additional information.

A letter from James Madison to Andrew Stevenson offers additional clarification:

If it be asked why the terms "common defence and general welfare," if not meant to convey the comprehensive power which, taken literally, they express, were not qualified and explained by some reference to the particular powers subjoined…The obvious conclusion to which we are brought is, that these terms, copied from the Articles of Confederation, were regarded in the new as in the old instrument, merely as general terms, explained and limited by the subjoined specifications, and therefore requiring no critical attention or studied precaution.

James Madison to Andrew Stevenson, 27 Nov. 1830

In other words, “general Welfare” is not a broad, sweeping grant of unspecified power to Congress; it is limited specifically by the following clauses to only those powers enumerated.

An additional memorandum penned by Madison cements this understanding:

…it was not the intention of the general or of the State Coventions to express, by the use of the terms common defence and general welfare, a substantive and indefinite power; or to imply that the general terms were not to be explained and limited by the specified powers succeeding them, in like manner as they were explained and limited in the former Articles of Confederation from which the terms were taken…

The “general Welfare” clause does not in any way confer any power other than what is explicitly delineated in the following clauses. And to seal the deal, the founding fathers gave us the Tenth Amendment:

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.

Thus, the above list of powers is all the federal government has. No more, no less. As you can see, most of it, as Madison wrote in the Federalist No. 45, is externally focused. The only truly domestically focused responsibilities are establishing Post Offices and Post Roads, defending our borders and suppressing insurrection, coining and regulating currency, and regulating interstate trade - which essentially means to act as referee between the states making sure one doesn’t unfairly disadvantage another, such as charging inordinate taxes for traversing a waterway needed for transporting goods, etc. (even that authority the federal government abuses).

There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the federal government authority to be involved in anything else domestically. They have no power to be involved in or fund research. They have no power to provide subsidies or loans to businesses. They have no power to give financial aid to foreign entities. They have no power to be involved in education or provide loans for higher education. They have no power to provide for individual welfare, health care, or retirement savings. They have no power to bail anyone out of their failures nor to provide finds for disaster recovery. They have no power to regulate agriculture, firearms, the environment or just about anything else into which they’ve inserted their grubby little fingers.

The only reason the government is involved now in so much for which the Constitution provides it no authority is because we the people have allowed it. It is because most of we the people not only don’t know or understand the Constitution, but we the people look to government to solve our problems for us. This is not the America the founders sought to establish.

The federal government has become the largest employer in the country. This was never supposed to be. Again referring to Madison in The Federalist No. 45, “The number of individuals employed under the constitution of the United States, will be much smaller, than the number employed under the particular states.”

It is time we take our power back from the federal government and reduce it to the size and limited authority it was granted by the Constitution. Only then will we see America truly prosper once again.