350 APPendIx B • ConSTITUTIon of The UnITed STATeS
Post roads include all routes over which mail is carried—
highways, railways, waterways, and airways.
Clause 8: Patents and Copyrights. To promote the Progress
of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times
to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their
respective Writings and Discoveries;
Authors’ and composers’ works are protected by copy-
rights established by copyright law, which currently is the
Copyright Act of 1976, as amended. Copyrights are valid
for the life of the author or composer plus seventy years.
Inventors’ works are protected by patents, which vary in
length of protection from fourteen to twenty years. A patent
gives a person the exclusive right to control the manufac-
ture or sale of her or his invention.
Clause 9: Lower Courts. To constitute Tribunals inferior to
the supreme Court;
Congress has the authority to set up all federal courts,
except the Supreme Court, and to decide what cases those
courts will hear.
Clause 10: Punishment for Piracy. To define and punish
Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and
Offences against the Law of Nations;
Congress has the authority to prohibit the commission of
certain acts outside U.S. territory and to punish certain vio-
lations of international law.
Clause 11: Declaration of War. To declare War, grant
Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules con
cerning Captures on Land and Water;
Only Congress can declare war, although the president,
as commander in chief, can make war without Congress’s
formal declaration. Letters of marque and reprisal autho-
rized private parties to capture and destroy enemy ships in
wartime. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, inter-
national law has prohibited letters of marque and reprisal,
and the United States has honored the ban.
Clause 12: The Army. To raise and support Armies, but no
Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer
Term than two Years;
Congress has the power to create an army; the money used
to pay for it must be appropriated for no more than two-
year intervals. This latter restriction gives ultimate control
of the army to civilians.
Clause 13: Creation of a Navy. To provide and maintain
a Navy;
This clause allows for the maintenance of a navy. In 1947,
Congress created the U.S. Air Force.
Clause 14: Regulation of the Armed Forces. To make Rules
for the Government and Regulation of the land and
naval Forces;
Congress sets the rules for the military mainly by way of
the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which was enacted
in 1950 by Congress.a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the
President of the United States; and before the Same
shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being dis
approved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the
Senate and House of Representatives, according to the
Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
The president must have the opportunity to either sign
or veto everything that Congress passes, except votes to
adjourn and resolutions not having the force of law.
Section 8. The Powers of Congress
Clause 1: Taxing. The Congress shall have Power To lay
and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the
Debts and provide for the common Defence and general
Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and
Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
Duties are taxes on imports and exports. Impost is a generic
term for tax. Excises are taxes on the manufacture, sale, or
use of goods.
Clause 2: Borrowing. To borrow Money on the credit of the
United States;
Congress has the power to borrow money, which is nor-
mally carried out through the sale of U.S. treasury bonds
on which interest is paid. Note that the Constitution places
no limit on the amount of government borrowing.
Clause 3: Regulation of Commerce. To regulate Commerce
with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and
with the Indian Tribes;
This is the commerce clause, which gives to Congress the
power to regulate interstate and foreign trade. Much of the
activity of Congress is based on this clause.
Clause 4: Naturalization and Bankruptcy. To establish an
uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the
subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
Only Congress may determine how aliens can become citi-
zens of the United States. Congress may make laws with
respect to bankruptcy.
Clause 5: Money and Standards. To coin Money, regu
late the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the
Standard of Weights and Measures;
Congress mints coins and prints and circulates paper
money. Congress can establish uniform measures of time,
distance, weight, and so on. In 1838, Congress adopted
the English system of weights and measurements as our
national standard.
Clause 6: Punishing Counterfeiters. To provide for the
Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current
Coin of the United States;
Congress has the power to punish those who copy American
money and pass it off as real. Currently, the punishment is
a fine up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to fifteen
years.
Clause 7: Roads and Post Offices. To establish Post Offices
and post Roads;9781285436388_em_appb_347-362.indd 350 10/22/13 7:03 AM
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