Powers of the United States Congress as Established by the Constitution

The book How Congress Works, by Lee H. Hamilton, tells us a brief summary of the interworking’s of congress. The book begins to convey the role of congress in chapter one, the author begins with congresses important roles in our democracy. Which are passing budgets, manage conflicts that arise, debate issues facing the country and most importantly to act within the system of checks and balances. In our government neither congress nor president is supreme, most of the authority is with the citizens. The United States government is balanced into three branches of government: Congress, POTUS, SCOTUS, the House of Representatives and the Senate: also between the Federal Government and the States. The States are broken down into different regions with different issues facing them and different interests eventually boiling down to the bill of rights. Congress has the power of lawmaking, along with what the President’s agenda is, recommending bills to congress, and the power of the President to veto bills. Congress contains the power of the purse in which Congress controls the power of taxation and spending. Congress legislations and policies control some aspects of our lives like taxation or when they regulate us. Our Government

Oliver Ellsworth, an important American lawyer and politician that lived during the first American Independence day, states his opinion on a new American Congress, “The powers of congress must be defined, but their means must be adequate to the purposes of their constitution. It is possible there may be abuses and misapplications; still, it is better to hazard something than to hazard at all”. In the original United States Constitution, the Framers wanted to make three different and equal branches of government, but today that is not the case. In present day government, Congress is more powerful than the President. The Legislative Branch, or Congress, is the second branch of the United States Federal Government. Congress is made up of two houses called the Senate and the House of Representatives. The main purpose of

Congress is the legislative branch of our national government and shares power with the president as well as the Supreme Court. It has five fundamental functions, which include lawmaking, helping constituents, performing oversight, and educating the public,

Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress its powers and limits. Congress is the legislative branch of the government, meaning they are the ones to make laws for the United States of America. The article also creates the two sections of Congress, which is called a bicameral legislature. The first of the two is the Senate, which is made up of two senators from each state. The second is the House of Representatives, which has representatives from each state based on the

The Commerce Clause grants Congress the power “[t]o regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” Despite its silence as to the effect of that affirmative power, federal courts have recognized the Framers’ wish to create a unified national market and have found a dormant congressional authority in it. Since the landmark case of Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), that dormant authority has limited state regulations that burden interstate commerce, even in the absence of congressional regulation. Congress has the power only to restrict the scope of permissible state regulation but it does not absolutely preclude states from affecting commerce. "[T]he states retain authority under their police powers to regulate matters of 'legitimate local concern', even though interstate commerce may be affected." A challenged statute is upheld if its effect on interstate commerce is merely incidental. On the other hand, a state regulation that is facially or practically discriminatory will be defeated unless it shows a legitimate local purpose that cannot be accomplished by any less discriminatory alternatives.

The Commerce Clause was originally designed for congress to regulate commerce among the states. After this decision, Congress can now go beyond the external boundary (Smith, pg. 317). Being one of Chief Marshall 's most important cases, Gibbons v. Ogden vastly expanded the Commerce Clause (Smith, pg. 315). The case of Gibbons v. Ogden in 1824 allowed Congress to interpret their powers to regulate any type of commerce that went through state lines including modes

The power of Congress to regulate commerce does not stop at the jurisdictional lines of states. This power is the power to regulate and can be used without limitations prescribed in the Constitution. This power of Congress governs navigation within the limits of every state.

In the world of politics, the powers of the Legislative branch are crucial in the system of checks and balances in our government. According to the U.S. Constitution, the Legislative branch or better known as Congress, is responsible for making laws. Though trusted with this power, Congress does not effectively execute this action due to their inability to work together and make decisions on bills. Due to this indecisiveness, Congress is constantly being slammed in the media and is beginning to be referred to as the immature branch of government. Their indecisiveness is also dissatisfying American citizens making many citizens hold them in contempt because of them not doing their job.

The powers of Congress have evolved throughout the multiple proposed plans for a structured government. In the first proposed plan The Articles Of Confederation congress held the power to create alliances with other countries, control and maintain the military, and dealt with the financial element of the country. In The Articles Of Confederation it was favored to be state sovereignty exclusive since many of the states favored this because they were represented equally. This also allowed for a unicameral legislature to be constructed. In the virginia plan the powers of congress differed from the articles of confederation when they became a bicameral legislature that consisted of two chambers of congress. In the virginia plan congress would have

Congress is under the Legislative Branch, which gives it the power to bring laws into effect for the country. However, that power is shared with the Judiciary Branch (the Supreme Court) in the sense that this branch interprets laws and acts of Congress. The Supreme Court is able to, through judicial review, also void any laws implemented by Congress that are considered to be

In article 1, section 8 of the constitution; it establishes congress’s enumerated powers. Just from this list of powers alone it is clear that the Framers intended for the legislative branch of government to be the most energetic and most powerful. Congress has the power to make laws, spend and raise money without the approval of the other branches of government, and to even declare war. Amongst these powers, congress also has many others, but these are just the main enumerated powers that congress has. Now, what makes congress so powerful in addition to its vast amount of enumerated powers is the fact that the other branches of government have relatively little power in checking the legislative branch and its powers. For example, under the power to make laws, the

Each of the three branches is controlled by the other two in several ways. The president can veto a law which was passed by Congress, yet Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of both houses. Members of the Supreme Court, which are appointed by the president and approved by Congress, can declare a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution, Article 1 Section 1, states that the legislative branch be created from two separate bodies: a House of Representatives and a Senate, together is known as Congress.

Declare War, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning the captures made.

More than three decades after the ratification of the Constitution, Gibbons v. Ogden (22 U.S. 1 [1824]) raised, for the first time, questions concerning the nature and scope of congressional authority in regulating interstate commerce. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for a unanimous Supreme Court, held that Congress's power to regulate commerce extended to every species of commercial trade, including navigation, between the United States and foreign nations and between the states.

The Commerce Clause is where Congress’s broadest powers are derived (Melvin, 2015). Courts are highly regardful to congressional action in fields that impact interstate commerce.The constitutional power to regulate (1) channels of interstate commerce such as railways and highways, (2) the instrumentalities of interstate commerce such as vehicles used in shipping, and (3) the articles moving in interstate commerce are in the hands of Congress.Even for commercial activity that is purely intrastate (taking place within one state’s borders), Congress has the power to regulate the activity so long as it has a substantial economic effect on interstate commerce. For example, a legislative act was passed in the state of Illinois demanding that commercial