Exclusive Powers
The framers viewed Congress as the “fi rst branch” of government and granted it
signifi cant exclusive powers. Congress was given the power to raise revenue for
the federal government through taxes and borrowing, regulate interstate and for-
eign commerce, coin money, establish post offi ces and roads, grant patents and
copyrights, declare war, “raise and support armies,” make rules for the military,
and create and maintain a navy. Most important is the so-called power of the
purse—control over taxation and spending.
Congress’s exclusive powers take on additional signifi cance through the
necessary and proper clause, also known as the elastic clause. It gives 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 Offi cer thereof.”
In other words, Congress could pass laws related to any of its exclusive powers. For
example, while the Constitution did not explicitly mention Congress’s right to compel
people to serve in the military, its power to enact a draft was clearly given by the nec-
essary and proper clause, in conjunction with its power to “raise and support armies.”
The exclusive powers of Congress are more numerous and specifi c than the lim-
ited powers granted to the president. As commander in chief of the armed forces,
the president has the power to receive ambassadors and foreign ministers and to
issue pardons. The president’s most important powers are contained in the execu-
tive powers clause, which says, “The executive power shall be vested in a President
of the United States of America,” and in the directive to ensure “that the laws are
faithfully executed.”
The courts did not receive as much attention in the Constitution as either Con-
gress or the president. The most important positive powers that the framers gave
the Supreme Court were lifetime tenure for justices in good behavior and relative
independence from the other two branches. The critical negative power of judicial
review, the ability to strike down the laws and actions of other branches, will be
discussed below.necessary and proper clause
Part of Article I, Section 8, of the
Constitution that grants Congress
the power to pass all laws related
to one of its expressed powers; also
known as the elastic clause.
CONGRESS ALONE HAS “THE POWER
of the purse” to fund government
programs. Although President
Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq,
the ongoing effort there depended
on congressional authorization of
funds to pay for the war.
40 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING