484 4 MONEY BILLS. dents, the Committee of Detail worked out the provision. By the Articles, no member of Congress could accept a salaried office under the United States,1 and four of the States explicitly defined incompatible offices, though chiefly within the State.2 Williamson of North Carolina and King of Massachusetts practically fixed the language of the provision on the subject in the Constitution3 when they suggested it, though it was modified by the Committee of Detail, and also by the Committee of Eleven. The legislative practice of the country gave the Lower House of assembly the exclusive right to originate money-bills, following the precedent of Parliament. Six of the State constitutions contained a corresponding provision, and it was in the unwritten constitutions of other States. Delaware and South Carolina empowered the Upper House to propose amendments, after the British model. That the Senate should be restrained from originating moneybills was proposed by Gerry of Massachusetts, and that 1 Articles of Confederation, V. 2 Maryland, 1776, Article XXXVII and XLIV; South Carolina, 1778, Articles XX, XXI; Massachusetts, 1780, Part II, Chapter VI, Article II; New Hampshire, 1784. 3 September 3. 4 2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his Continuance in Office. 5 Williamson and King moved the report of the Committee of Eleven, September 1; Elliot, V, 503. 6 Delaware, 1776, Article VI; Maryland, 1776, Articles X, XI, XXII; Virginia, 1776, Section 6; South Carolina, Article VII and 1778, Article XVI; Massachusetts, 1780, Part 1, Chapter I, Section 3, Article VII; New Hampshire, 1784. 7 Delaware, 1776, Article VI; South Carolina, 1776, Article VII. 8 June 13, Elliot, V, 188, bills for raising revenue should originate in the House, by Strong of that State,1 but the language of the whole clause was taken from the constitution of Massachusetts.2 The participation of the Executive in the work of legislation3 was not common in the States though provided for in the constitutions of three and conforming to the earlier practice of English Kings; South Carolina, alone of the thirteen, gave the executive the veto power, and that by its first constitution; New York and Massachusetts required that every bill should be submitted to him for approval.5 Distrust of executive usurpation was a characteristic of the American constitutions and laws of the eighteenth 1 August 15, Elliot, V, 427a. 2 Section 7: 1. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. 8 2. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, In like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. 4 1776, Article VII. 5 New York, 1777, Article III. Bills sent to the Council of Revision consisting of the Governor, the Chancellor and the Justices of the Supreme Court or any two of them. Massachusetts, 1780, Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 1, Article II. century. The assent of the president-general to acts of the proposed grand council in the Albany plan1 seems to be the earliest suggestion in America of the participation of the executive in legislation. Gerry first proposed the overrule of the veto, an arrangement which both Wilson and Hamilton approved, though Hamilton mentioned at the time "that the King of Great Britain had not exerted his negative since the Revolution of 1689." That the veto might be overruled by two-thirds vote was agreed to by common consent. The return of a bill within ten days was doubtless suggested from the constitution of Massachusetts, which required the governor to return it within five, or it should become a law without his signature. The Committee of Detail worked the precedent into the form in which the provision in the Constitution stands. From Massachusetts also came the provision that every concurrent resolution order or vote should be presented to the President;2 but the suggestion of adopting the idea originated with Randolph of Virginia.3-4 The powers of Congress, which evoked so long and 1 1754. 2 Massachusetts, 1780, Part 1, Chapter 1, Section 1, Article II. 3 August 16; Elliot, V, 431. 43. Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment), shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 5 SECTION 8. 1. The Congress shall have 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; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; 2. To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 3. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; 4. To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; 5. To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; 6. To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; 7. To establish Post-Offices and post Roads; 8. To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; 9. To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 10. To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; 11. To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 12. To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; 13. To provide and maintain a Navy; 14. To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; 15. To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 16. To 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, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; 17. To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;-And 18. To 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, or in any Department or Officer thereof. 488 POWERS OF CONGRESS. eager a debate in the Convention, were undoubtedly determined by the necessities of a National Government. That Congress should have power to lay and collect taxes, to pay the debts and to provide for the defence and common welfare of the United States, was suggested by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina;1 but that all duties should be uniform was first urged by McHenry of Maryland and General Pinckney.2 The Articles of Confederation had empowered Congress to borrow money and to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes; but Madison suggested that the power should extend to the regulation of commerce among the several States. He had made the same suggestion in his letter to Jefferson in the preceding March. That the rules of naturalization and the laws on the subject of bankruptcy should be uniform was proposed by Pinckney,3 though the idea was in the New Jersey Plan. The language of the old Articles giving Congress authority to coin money, to regulate its value and to fix the standard of weights and measures was repeated in the Constitution. The provision for punishment for counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States originated with the Committee of Detail, though the inclusion of "securities" was the work of Gouverneur Morris. Lord Stair, in 1721, had proposed the establishment of a postal service once a week through the provinces, and, under the Articles of Confederation, the Department of the PostOffice had been established. The suggestion of "post 1 August 18; Elliot, V, 440. Committee of Eleven, September 4; p. 506. 2 August 25; Elliot, V, 479. 3 August 25; Elliot, V, 488. Parliament established a uniform law of naturalization. Hildreth, II, 517. 4 Parliament had passed several acts to regulate colonial cur rency. |