Government Powers Quotes

Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government; and it is equally undeniable that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights, in order to vest it with requisite powers.

The powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.

In all the co-temporary discussions and comments, which the Constitution underwent, it was constantly justified and recommended on the ground, that the powers not given to the government, were withheld from it.

The federal government is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers. The principle, that it can exercise only the powers granted to it . . . is now universally admitted.

Corporations are created by the people, acting through their governments. We grant them corporate charters that confer certain legal rights and privileges, like the ability to enter into contracts, limited liability and perpetual life.

Generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties, says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you. But it doesn't say what the state or federal government must do on your behalf.

The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.

The peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional.

A constitution cannot possibly enumerate the means by which the powers of government are to be carried into execution.

No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.

The government doesn't want us to know what they're doing, how they're interpreting the law, how they're interpreting and redefining their powers, and increasingly, how they're redefining the boundaries of our rights and our liberties, broadly, socially, and categorically without our involvement.

The present Congress have as complete authority to require of the States indefinite supplies of money for the common defense and general welfare, as the future Congress will have to require them of individual citizens; and the latter will be no more bound than the States themselves have been, to pay the quotas respectively taxed on them.

Money cannot be applied to the *general welfare*, otherwise than by an application of it to some *particular* measure conducive to the general welfare. Whenever, therefore, money has been raised by the general authority, and is to be applied to a particular measure, a question arises whether the particular measure be within the enumerated authorities vested in Congress. If it be, the money requisite for it may be applied to it; if it be not, no such application can be made.

A government does not desire its powers to be strictly defined, but the subjects require the line to be drawn with increasing precision.

A difference must be made between a decision against the constitutionality of a law of Congress and of a State. The former acts as a restriction on the powers of this government, but the latter as an enlargement.

The essence of democracy is how to restrict government power; this is the most important reason why China so badly needs democracy. The overconcentration of government powers without checks and balances is the root cause of so many social problems.

A constitution is framed for ages to come, and is designed to approach immortality as nearly as human institutions can approach it. Its course cannot always he tranquil. It is exposed to storms and tempests, and its framers must be unwise statesmen indeed if they have not provided it, so far as its nature will permit, with the means of self preservation from the perils it may be destined to encounter.

The [tenth] amendment states but a truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered.

The Patriot Act is essential to our continued success in the war on terror here at home.

When a rising power confronts a ruling power, bad things usually happen.... This is what happens when an extablished entity faces an upstart.... To avoid a disasterous clash like war, both parties have to make an adjustment, but the ruling power has to make more painful adjustments.

The process of our democracy must not be imperiled by the denial of essential powers of free government.

To have prescribed the means by which government should, in all future times, execute its powers would … have been an unwise attempt to provide, by immutable rules, for exigencies which, can best be provided for as they occur.

Although England, and the rest of the United Kingdom, possesses momentous constitutional texts and significant statutes, since the 1600s there has been no systematic attempt to codify the powers and limits of the British executive and the rights of those it governs.

Until the 1930s, the Constitution served as a major constraint on federal economic interventionism. The government's powers were understood to be just as the framers intended: few and explicitly enumerated in our founding document and its amendments. Search the Constitution as long as you like, and you will find no specific authority conveyed for the government to spend money on global-warming research, urban mass transit, food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid, or countless other items in the stimulus package and, even without it, in the regular federal budget.

Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences.