The Constitution is under attack by the very people who took an oath to uphold the sacred document that protects (not gives permission) the liberty and rights of the people.
In his article, TJ Martinelli said that Patrick Henry’s impassioned remarks during the final days of the Virginia Ratifying Convention were about the whether the new Constitution opened the door for a federal government to invent new authority and subvert state sovereignty.
Martinelli wrote that “After the convention’s presiding officer George Wythe moved to ratify the Constitution, Henry leapt up in protest, adamantly insisting, as he had many times during the debates, that the document required amendments addressing numerous concerns. Chief among them was his fear that the Constitution gave the federal government “implied” powers not specifically stated.
“Among other things, Henry demanded that its limited scope of power be specifically stated in the form of an amendment: “With respect to that part of the proposal which says that every power not granted remains with the people, it must be previous to adoption, or it will involve this country in inevitable destruction. To talk of it as a thing subsequent, not as one of your unalienable rights, is leaving it to the casual opinion of the Congress who shall take up the consideration of that matter. They will not reason with you about the effect of this Constitution. They will not take the opinion of this committee concerning its operation. They will construe it as they please.”
The reason Henry devoted so much attention to the issue of “implied powers” is because it was the fundamental issue. If the federal government possessed implied powers, then it could (and would) interpret itself to have the authority to undermine or violate other rights.
“They can exercise power by implication in one instance, as well as in another. Thus, by the gentleman’s own argument, they can exercise the power, though it be not delegated.”
Despite his intense rhetoric, James Madison shortly after got up to say he agreed with Henry on the amendments: he favored their inclusion and saw nothing in them that would undercut powers already included in the Constitution.
The convention would ultimately ratify the Constitution, with the inclusion of recommended amendments that eventually lead to the creation of the Bill of Rights.
Considering what transpired just years after, history has vindicated Henry’s worst fears over implied powers.
The federal government would soon debate what “necessary and proper” meant in the Constitution and whether that authorized Congress to charter a national bank. Even with the Tenth Amendment making it clear implied powers did not exist, the Supreme Court would aid the Federalists in effectively redefining words to circumnavigate constitutional limitations.
And so it has gone on and on… the federal government twisting “necessary and proper” into control and power over the “We the People”… circumventing the very protections the Constitution guarantees.
People have forgotten that government officials are “servants of the people, not masters.”