constructionist" and "broad constructionist" views of the 179 1 constitution. Jefferson pointed out that the federal government was an authority of delegated powers and that the power to establish a bank was nowhere mentioned in the constitution. It was true that to congress was given such powers as to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, 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." But Jefferson contended that the words "necessary and proper" in this "general clause' were to be construed strictly, not in the sense of merely "convenient." A bank, argued he, is not an absolute necessity for carrying into effect any of the delegated powers, hence a bill establishing such an institution is unconstitutional. "If such latitude of construction be allowed to this phrase as to give any nonenumerated power, it will go to every one, for there is not one which ingenuity may not torture into a convenience in some instance or other, to some one of so long a list of enumerated powers. It would swallow up all the delegated powers, and reduce the whole to one power, as before observed. Therefore it was that the Constitution restrained them to the necessary means, that is to say, to those means without which the grant of power would be nugatory." Hamilton's opinion was in the nature of a reply to the stand taken by Jefferson and Randolph. He thought it "essential to the being of the national government, that so erroneous a conception of the meaning of the word necessary should be exploded. It is certain, that neither the grammatical nor popular sense of the term requires that construction. According to both, necessary often means no more than needful, requisite, incidental, useful, or conducive to. It is a common mode of expression to say, that it is necessary for a government or a person to do this or that thing, when nothing more is intended or understood, than that the interests of the government or person require, or will be promoted by, the doing of this Hamilton as a structionist I 791 or that thing." He then traced "a natural and obvious. relation between the institution of a bank and the objects of several of the enumerated powers of government," such as collecting taxes, borrowing money, regulating commerce, and raising and maintaining fleets and armies. A Strong Hamilton's argument was so convincing that Washington signed the bill which thus became a law. The first great battle between strict construction and broad construction had been fought. The doctrines so ably set forth by Hamilton were afterwards confirmed by Chief-justice Marshall. "The sound construction of the Constitution must allow to the national legislature that discretion with respect to the means by which the powers it confers are to be carried into execution, which will enable that body to perform the high duties assigned to it in the manner McCulloch vs. most beneficial to the people," was the conclusion of the supreme court. It became the settled theory that when the grant of a power to the national government has been established that power is to be construed broadly. "Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional." Maryland A Successful The Bank of the United States was cordially welcomed Fiscal Agent by the financial world. Business men saw that the connection of the bank with the government was bound to make the enterprise profitable, and there was great eagerness for the stock. When the books were opened in Philadelphia, all the shares were taken up within an hour. In a year they were selling at fifty per cent. above par, much to Hamilton's dismay. The bank rendered important services to the government and for eighteen years paid an average annual dividend of eight and a half per cent. It restrained the issue of state bank-notes, provided a safe and ample currency, and made easy the management of the public revenue. The fact that its bills were paid in gold and silver when presented at its counters inspired confidence in the business world and raised the credit of the government from which it had received its 1 7 9 1 charter. Congrefs of the United States: AT THE THIRD SESSION, Begun and held at the city of Philadelphia, on An ACT declaring the Confent of Congrefs, that a new State be formed WH States Mint Late in January, Hamilton sent to congress a report The United on the establishment of a mint and congress adopted most of his suggestions. In this essay on coinage, he advised. the adoption of the decimal system and outlined a plan. that, in the main, has been followed since. The only point that aroused debate was the proposition that each coin should bear a representation of the head of the president in whose administration it was issued. This suggestion was rejected as too monarchical; the head of the goddess of. liberty was finally substituted. For us, the most interesting feature of Hamilton's report lies in his advocacy of a double standard. He admitted the necessity of conforming to the practice of the commercial world and especially of England, with which we had our largest dealings. He "admitted the difficulties attendant on maintaining a proper ratio between the metals, so that one by being overvalued should not drive the other out. But after all deductions and with full allowance for all possible risks, he comes clearly to the conclusion that in the long HEREAS the Legiflature of the Commonwealth of Vir. ginia, by an act entitled, "An act concerning the erection of the diffrict of Kentucky into an independant State," paffed the eighteenth day of December, one thousand feven hundred and eighty-nine, have confented, that the diftrict of Kentucky, within the jurifdiction of the faid Commonwealth, and according to its ac tual boundaries at the time of paffing the act aforefaid, thould be formed into a new State: And whereas a convention of delegates, chofen by the people of the faid diftrict of Kentucky, have petitioned Congress to confent, that, on the firft day of June, one thoufand feven hundred and ninety-two, the faid diftrict thould be formed into a new State, and received into the Union, by the name of the State of Kentucky." Be it enacted by the SENATE and House of REPRESENTATIVES of the United States of America in Congress affembled, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the Congrefs doth confent, that the faid diftrict of Kentucky, within the jurifdiétion of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and according to its actual boundaries, on the eighteenth day of December, one thoufand feven hundred and eighty-nine, fhall, upon the first day of June, one thoufand feven hundred and ninetytwo, be formed into a new State, feparate from, and independant of, the faid Commonwealth of Virginia. And be it further enacted and declared, That upon the aforefaid first FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, APPROVED, February the fourth, 1791. HMMK Secretary of State. Amendment to Act Establishing the Seat of run greater steadiness is acquired by maintaining a double rather than a single standard, and that a better circulating I 79 1 medium, larger, more convenient, and less subject to dangerous fluctuations, is thus attained." After amending the act establishing the permanent seat of government, the first congress finally adjourned on the third of March, 1791. On the fourth, the senate met in extra session and adjourned the same day. Washington's Tour Hamilton's December 5 Soon after the final adjournment of the first congress, Washington set out on a three months' tour through the southern states. He went by way of Richmond, Newbern, Wilmington, and Charleston, as far as Savannah and returned by way of Columbia, Charlotte, and Hillsboro, a journey of more than eighteen hundred miles. "So highly were we favored," says he, "that we arrived at each place where I proposed to make any halt, on the very day I fixed upon before we set out. The same horses performed the whole tour; and, although much reduced in flesh, kept up their full spirits to the last day." These tours appealed strongly to the warm human interest that gathers much more readily around great men than it does around constitutions and forms of government. Washington's personal presence brought home to the people the reality of a central government that to many had seemed shadowy and distant. They knew him and loved him; his very name symbolized freedom and victory; and "when he came among them as the head of a new government, that government took on in some measure the character of its chief." At the first session of the second congress, Hamilton put the finishing touch to his financial policy by sending to congress his report on manufactures, the most elaborate and, in some respects, the most important of all his reports. It set forth the existing status of American manufactures and urged that they be fostered and developed; it has been called "the strongest presentation of the case for protection which has been made by any American statesman." On the twenty-third of January, 1792, it was put on the calendar for consideration by the committee of the whole house on the thirtieth, but it appears that no further action was taken upon it. In the |