powers of Congress
The Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, in Article I, section 8, 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.” It was “only declaratory of a truth which would have resulted by necessary and unavoidable implication from the very act of constituting a federal government and vesting it with certain specified powers,” wrote Alexander Hamilton in essay 33 of The Federalist (1787–88) (see Federalist Papers ). By this Hamilton meant that any power necessary and proper to the exercise of the Constitution’s express grants of power should be implied, even if there were no necessary and proper clause. [Source: The U.S. Constitution A to Z; Implied Powers]
implied powers
principles of government
constitutional issues
concepts