Anti-Washington (constitutionalist) Representative James Madison, of the Commonwealth of Virginia, “father of the Constitution,” writes in a letter to Edmund Pendleton:
With respect to the two words “general welfare,'” I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. 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.
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If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.
[added 10/17/2021]
Subsequent Events:
References:
Walter Williams, “What About Upholding the Constitution,” Orange County (California) Register, 9 April 2008, Local:15.
General Welfare clause of the Constitution « Rights.com.mht
www.rights.com/2015/09/23/general-welfare-clause-of-the-constitution/
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