219-Year-Old Warning to the 112th Congress
The “Imperial Presidency“ is a term that became popular in the 1960s and was the title of a 1973 volume by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. to describe the modern presidency of the United States. The term refers to the institution of the presidency having become so expansive, exceeding the constitutional limits, that it is out of control.
But we don’t just have an imperial presidency; we also have an Imperial Congress.
As the 112th Congress begins, its members — and the American people who elected them — should heed these prescient words of Founding Father James Madison 219 years ago:
“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.” –James Madison, letter to Edmund Pendleton, 1792
And these equally prescient and sobering 223-year-old words of Thomas Jefferson:
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.” –Thomas Jefferson, letter to E. Carrington, 1788.