The first clause of Article I, Section 8, reads, "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." This clause, called the General Welfare Clause or the Spending Power Clause, does not grant Congress the power to legislate for the general welfare of the country; that is a power reserved to the states through the Tenth Amendment. Rather, it merely allows Congress to spend federal money for the general welfare. The principle underlying this distinction—the limitation of federal power—eventually inspired the only important disagreement over the meaning of the clause.
The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. It expresses the principle of federalism, also known as states' rights, by stating that the federal government has only those powers delegated to it by the Constitution, and that all other powers not forbidden to the states by the Constitution are reserved to each state.
Thomas Jefferson on the General Welfare Clause
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enIzunjfz9A
[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
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/general-welfare-clause/
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution, the “general Welfare clause,” is often referred to as the “Taxing and Spending Clause” because of its expansive use today. Many people claim it gives the feds the authority to do anything imaginable as long as it “promotes the general welfare” – however one might define it. But this creates a dilemma. Either James Madison and other supporters of the Constitution were lying when they said the powers of the federal government would be “few and defined,” or people have misconstrued the legal meaning of this clause. The existence of enumerated powers resolves this dilemma.
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