The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, created to "promote the general welfare"
The United States' Constitution lists the powers given by the States and We the People to the federal government. The Bill of Rights states (only) a few of the many unbreakable rights all citizens possess.
The Preamble introduces the Constitution and declares plainly why it was created:
As explained by James Madison, the "father" of the Constitution, the power of the federal government to do anything for the "general welfare" was limited to only those powers stated specifically in the Constitution itself (which was written to protect individual liberties by limiting the power of the national government to infringe on those freedoms).
The phrase "general welfare" referred to neither the armed confiscation of one's wealth for redistribution to others, subjecting the Republic to enslaving, crushing, bankrupting debt, nor the creation and devaluing of fiat currency in order to benefit politicians' chances at winning elections.
Here's James Madison, in his own words:
The Preamble introduces the Constitution and declares plainly why it was created:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."One of the clauses above is misunderstood (or misrepresented) often today. The Preamble states that the Constitution was created in part to "promote the general welfare" of all citizens. What does that mean?
As explained by James Madison, the "father" of the Constitution, the power of the federal government to do anything for the "general welfare" was limited to only those powers stated specifically in the Constitution itself (which was written to protect individual liberties by limiting the power of the national government to infringe on those freedoms).
The phrase "general welfare" referred to neither the armed confiscation of one's wealth for redistribution to others, subjecting the Republic to enslaving, crushing, bankrupting debt, nor the creation and devaluing of fiat currency in order to benefit politicians' chances at winning elections.
Here's James Madison, in his own words:
"With respect to the words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them (enumerated in the Constitution). To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators."
-James Madison, "father" of the Constitution
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