ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES: WITH A PRELIMINARY REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE COLONIES AND STATES BEFORE THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. BY JOSEPH STORY, LL.D. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. FOURTH EDITION, WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS BY THOMAS M. COOLEY. "Magistratibus igitur opus est; sine quorum prudentiâ ac diligentiâ esse civitas non potest; "Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants." BURKE. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1873. LIBRARY OF THE LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. A42769 Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, by JOSEPH STORY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by WILLIAM W. STORY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by WILLIAM W. STORY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by WILLIAM W. STORY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. COMMENTARIES. CHAPTER XV. POWER TO BORROW MONEY AND REGULATE COMMERCE. $1054. HAVING finished this examination of the power of taxation, and of the accompanying restrictions and prohibitions, the other powers of Congress will be now examined in the order in which they stand in the eighth section. § 1055. The next is the power of Congress "to borrow money. on the credit of the United States." This power seems indispensable to the sovereignty and existence of a national government. Even under the confederation this power was expressly delegated. The remark is unquestionably just, that it is a power inseparably connected with that of raising a revenue, and with the duty of protection, which that power imposes upon the general government. Though in times of profound peace it may not be ordinarily necessary to anticipate the revenues of a State; yet the experience of all nations must convince us, that the burden and expenses of one year, in time of war, may more than equal the ordinary revenue of ten years. Hence, a debt is almost unavoidable, when a nation is plunged into a state of war. The least burdensome mode of contracting a debt is by a loan. Indeed, this recourse becomes the more necessary, because the ordinary duties upon importations are subject to great diminution and fluctuations in times of war; and a resort to direct taxes for the whole supply would, under such circumstances, become oppressive and ruinous to the agricultural interests of the country. Even in times of peace exigencies may occur, which render a loan the most facile, VOL. II. 1 Article 9. 21 Tuck. Black. Comm. App. 245, 246; The Federalist, No. 41. 1 |