Article I, Section 8
Congress possesses the power to levy and collect various taxes in order to finance government operations. All federal taxes must have the same rate nationwide.
Congress can borrow money to finance the Government. The sale of bonds is the most common way for this borrowing to occur. There is no limit on the amount that can be borrowed.
This is the Commerce Clause which empowers Congress to regulate foreign and interstate trade, as well as trade with Indian tribes.
Congress may set the rules for how aliens can become citizens of the United States. Congress can pass laws relating to bankruptcy.
Congress can regulate U.S. currency and it's value. It can set and require uniform standards of weight and measure; including time, distance, weight, and area.
Congress may make it a federal crime to produce false coins, paper currency, bonds, and stamps of the United States.
Congress may provide for and regulate the transportation and delivery of mail. "Post offices" are buildings where mail is deposited for dispatch. "Post roads" are all routes over which mail is carried.
Congress can provide for copyrights and patents. This gives authors, composers, or inventors the exclusive right to control their writing, music, or invention.
Congress can create a system of lower federal courts.
Congress may define and punish crimes committed on international waters and those committed against foreign nations.
Congress possesses the sole power to declare war. However, the president can use his power as Commander in Chief of the military to make undeclared war. Letters of marque and reprisal were authorizations that let private individuals outfit ships to capture and destroy enemy ships in times of war. The Declaration of Paris of 1856 forbade them and we have kept with this ban since the Civil War, thus negating the power of Congress to issue them.
Congress may form and fund armies, but money cannot be appropriated for these armies for more than a two year period.
Congress may form and fund a navy.
Congress may set rules for the government and regulation of the army and navy. Today, one can find these rules in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, passed in 1950.
Congress may call on local militias to enforce laws, suppress rebellions, and protect against invasions.
Congress may organize, arm, and discipline the militia. The states reserve the power to appoint officers and regulate the training of the militia, according to rules suggested by Congress.
Congress may establish a national capital by obtaining land from States and taking full responsibility for its governing and formation. Congress also has the power to acquire land in other states for various federal purposes.
This clause is called the Necessary and Proper Clause or Elastic Clause. It allows Congress to make all laws which it considers necessary and proper to fulfilling its duties.
© Copyright 1997 Jonathan Chin & Alan Stern
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States:
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
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;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;
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;
To exercise legislations 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
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.