Each day I will post various remarks from our Founders on
what they thought about on various subjects. Since our inception as a country it
seems, at least to me America looks very different today than then. Many of
their beliefs shaped the beginning. In many respects we have set ourselves up
for collapse from within. Not from all people, but from those who wish America
to change it's face or to fail outright. It is because of the latter that I
decided to launch this series. Please feel free to discuss these remarks that
were made so long ago. I believe this information is very important, especially
for the military since they are the armed protectors of our nation, the front
lines of our defense and as to our very survival as a nation in this world.



Day 18: Constitutional Interpretation


Hamilton, Alexander Alexander Hamilton
Federalist No. 81, 1788
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution. But this doctrine is not deducible from any circumstance peculiar to the plan of convention, but from the general theory of a limited Constitution.


Wilson, James Of the Study of Law in the United States
Circa, 1790
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it.


Jefferson, Thomas Opinion on National Bank
1791
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please...Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straightly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.


Jefferson, Thomas Opinion on a National Bank
February 15, 1791
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

It is an established rule of construction, where a phrase will bear either of two meanings to give it that which will allow some meaning to the other parts of the instrument, and not that which will render all the others useless. Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given to them. It was intended to lace them up straitly with in the enumerated powers, and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect.


Jefferson, Thomas Draft Kentucky Resolutions
1798
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

The construction applied...to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate Congress a power...ought not to be construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument.


Jefferson, Thomas letter to Mesrs. Eddy, Russel, Thurber, Wheaton and Smith
March 27, 1801
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered by me [as President] according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption - a meaning to be found in the explanations of those who advocated, not those who opposed it, and who opposed it merely lest the construction should be applied which they denounced as possible.


Jefferson, Thomas letter to Wilson Nicholas
1803
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.


Jefferson, Thomas letter to Wilson Nicholas
September 7, 1803
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction.


Jefferson, Thomas letter to Albert Gallatin
May 20, 1808
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

[T]he true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely gathered from the words, but may be sought also in extraneous circumstances provided they do not contradict the express words of the law.


Jefferson, Thomas letter to William Johnson
1823
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.


Jefferson, Thomas letter to William Johnson
June 12, 1823
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.


Madison, James letter to Henry Lee
June 25, 1824
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that is not the guide in expounding it, there may be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense. And that the language of our Constitution is already undergoing interpretations unknown to its founder, will I believe appear to all unbiassed Enquirers into the history of its origin and adoption.


Story, Joseph Commentaries on the Constitution
1833
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution.


Story, Joseph Commentaries on the Constitution
1833
Topic: Constitutional Interpretation

The plain import of the clause is, that congress shall have all the incidental and instrumental powers, necessary and proper to carry into execution all the express powers. It neither enlarges any power specifically granted; nor is it a grant of any new power to congress. But it is merely a declaration for the removal of all uncertainty, that the means of carrying into execution those, otherwise granted, are included in the grant.


Our Founders Thoughts Day 17: Power

Socialism: Does it Fit Mankind?