The Congress Shall Have Power to …
August 20, 2013
Article I, Section 8 begins with “The Congress shall have power to …” There follows a long list of what it has power to do, such as provide and maintain a Navy.
The Constitution doesn’t mandate a Navy or anything else in that list. Congress has the option to do those things. It may or it may not. That’s what having the power to do something means. The document doesn’t require that Congress do anything in that list. If it did, it would simply say “Congress shall provide and maintain a Navy.”
Michael S. Rozeff [send him mail] is a retired Professor of Finance living in East Amherst, New York. He is the author of the free e-book Essays on American Empire: Liberty vs. Domination and the free e-book The U.S. Constitution and Money: Corruption and Decline.
Who Would Protect Ships at Sea?