Jonah Patel
The US Constitution outlines four types of powers: enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent. Enumerated powers are those specifically identified in the Constitution, such as the power to lay and collect taxes, regulate commerce, and declare war. Implied powers are those necessary to effectuate enumerated powers, such as the power to make laws. Resulting powers are those that arise from the whole mass of the powers of the National Government and the nature of political society. Inherent powers are those that the government possesses without deriving them from another source, such as powers over and beyond those granted in the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment, added in 1791, clarifies that any powers not delegated to the federal government or prohibited to the states are reserved for the states or the people. This amendment has been used to both expand and contract the federal government's authority and remains a core debate between federal and state power.
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What You'll Learn
Enumerated powers
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution outlines several enumerated powers of Congress. These include the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, as well as to pay off debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States. Congress also has the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.
Additionally, Congress has the power to establish uniform rules of naturalization and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States. It can also promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times the exclusive rights of authors and inventors to their respective writings and discoveries.
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Implied powers
The United States Constitution grants Congress a specific set of powers known as "expressed" or "enumerated" powers. Enumerated powers are those specifically identified in the Constitution. However, the Constitution also recognises "implied powers", which are those that can reasonably be assumed to flow from express powers, though not explicitly mentioned.
The concept of implied powers is far from new. The framers of the Constitution knew that the 27 expressed powers listed in Article I, Section 8 would never be adequate to anticipate all of the unforeseeable situations and issues Congress would need to address through the years. They reasoned that the legislative branch, as the most dominant and important part of the government, would need the broadest possible lawmaking powers. As a result, the framers built the "Necessary and Proper" clause, or the "Elastic Clause", into the Constitution as a safeguard to ensure Congress the lawmaking leeway it was certain to need.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, also known as the Necessary and Proper Clause, grants Congress the power "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". This clause has been interpreted to grant Congress implied powers beyond those explicitly stated in the Constitution.
There have been several notable examples of the usage of implied powers. One early example is the creation of the First Bank of the United States in 1791. President George Washington asked Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton to defend the action over the objections of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Hamilton argued that the sovereign duties of any government implied that it reserved the right to use whatever powers were necessary to carry out those duties. In 1816, Chief Justice John Marshall invoked the implied powers of the government in the McCulloch v. Maryland case, which involved the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. The state of Maryland attempted to tax the bank, arguing that the Constitution did not explicitly grant Congress the power to establish banks. Chief Justice Marshall sided with the US government, stating that the Constitution grants Congress certain implied powers beyond those explicitly stated, and that Congress had the right to establish the bank.
Another instance of the usage of implied powers was during the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. James Monroe was sent by Thomas Jefferson to France to negotiate the purchase of the port of New Orleans and parts of Florida, with permission to spend up to $10 million. However, an agreement to purchase the entirety of continental French territory for $15 million was reached, even though this exceeded the authorised spending cap. It was not clear whether Jefferson had the legal authority to negotiate the price of the territory without the approval of Congress.
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Resulting powers
The US Constitution outlines four categories of powers belonging to the National Government: enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent. Enumerated powers are those that are specifically identified in the Constitution, such as the power of Congress to lay and collect taxes, regulate commerce, and declare war.
In McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice Marshall's interpretation of resulting powers emphasized their emergence from the totality of the National Government's authority and the inherent characteristics of political society. This interpretation suggests that resulting powers are not ancillary to any single enumerated power but rather emerge from the synthesis of the government's broad capabilities.
The Supreme Court further clarified the nature of resulting powers in the Legal Tender Cases (Knox v. Lee), asserting that these powers are neither explicitly granted to Congress by the Constitution nor are they subordinate to any unenumerated power. This distinction underscores the unique nature of resulting powers as distinct authorities that exist independently of any specific constitutional grant.
The Tenth Amendment, ratified in 1791, serves as a crucial protection against federal overreach by reserving powers not delegated to the federal government by the Constitution to the states or the people. This amendment has been pivotal in shaping the dynamic between federal and state powers, with its interpretation influencing the expansion or contraction of federal authority.
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Inherent powers
The US Constitution outlines four categories of powers belonging to the National Government: enumerated, implied, resulting, and inherent. Enumerated powers are those that are specifically outlined in the Constitution. The first Article of the US Constitution, for instance, vests all legislative powers in the Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Enumerated powers also include the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the states and Indian tribes; to establish uniform rules of naturalization and uniform laws on bankruptcy; to promote the progress of science and useful arts; to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas; to declare war; to raise and support armies; and to provide for calling forth the militia, among others.
Implied powers are those that are necessary to effectuate enumerated powers. In other words, the Constitution's enumeration of powers implies an additional grant of powers that are necessary to carry out the expressly granted powers. For example, the Necessary and Proper Clause, as outlined in Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, authorises the government to "make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers".
Resulting powers are those that result from the whole mass of the powers of the National Government and the nature of political society.
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Federal and state power
The United States government is federal in form, meaning that the national government and the states share powers that are wholly derived from the Constitution. The US Constitution also mandates that all states uphold a "republican form" of government, with three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Each state has its own constitution, which serves as the basis for its laws.
The federal government is supposed to be a government of limited powers. The Tenth Amendment, ratified in 1791, grants state governments all powers not specifically delegated to the federal government by the Constitution. It states: "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." The Ninth and Tenth Amendments clarify that the Bill of Rights does not enumerate all possible rights of the people but does enumerate all the federal government's powers.
The federal government also holds implied powers, which are not explicitly stated in the Constitution but are necessary to carry out other powers. According to Article 1, Section 8, "The Congress shall have Power... 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." The Supreme Court ruled that this "Necessary and Proper Clause" gives the federal government certain implied powers.
The Fourteenth Amendment forbids states from violating the fundamental rights of their citizens, placing new federal constraints on all three branches of state governments. Section 5 grants Congress the power to enforce those constraints.
The division of powers between state and federal governments isn’t always clear-cut, and power struggles between the two levels of government continue to this day. For example, in the case of Gonzales v. Reich (2005), the Supreme Court upheld the power of the federal government to regulate homegrown marijuana, even though some states had legalised it, as federal law bans marijuana as a controlled substance.
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Frequently asked questions
Enumerated powers are those specifically identified in the Constitution. For example, the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, as well as the power to declare war.
Implied powers are those powers necessary to effectuate powers enumerated in the Constitution. For instance, the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested in the Government of the United States.
Resulting powers are those that result from the whole mass of the powers of the National Government and the nature of political society. The Supreme Court has clarified that the Constitution does not expressly grant resulting powers to Congress.
Inherent powers are those possessed by the Government without being derived from another. They are powers beyond those explicitly granted in the Constitution or reasonably implied from express grants.
