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35-539: The Congress shall have Power...To establish Post Offices and post Roads The Postal Clause was added to the Constitution to facilitate interstate communication as well as to create a source of revenue for the early United States. There were some early disagreements as to the boundaries of the Postal Power. John Jay , in a letter to George Washington , opined that the postal service should not be burdened with

70-562: A state responsibility. The Clause has been construed to give Congress the enumerated power to designate mail routes and construct or designate post offices, with the implied authority to carry, deliver, and regulate the mail of the United States as a whole. An early controversy was whether Congress had the power to actually build post roads and post offices, or merely designate which lands and roads were to be used for this purpose, and to what extent that power could be delegated to

105-448: A duty incumbent both on governments and on individual citizens. While the need for inland transportation improvements was universally recognized, there were great differences over the questions of how these should be planned, funded, developed, and constructed. Also, with various routes available, questions of where these improvements should be made, and by whom (the federal government, the individual states, or local jurisdictions), became

140-569: A fund "for constructing roads and canals and improving the navigation of watercourses." Calhoun, who had also introduced the proposition in the previous session, defended it on the broad ground that "whatever impedes the intercourse of the extremes with the center of the republic weakens the Union" and that it was the duty of Congress to "bind the republic together with a perfect system of roads and canals." The bill proposed no specific system or improvements, but when pressed, Calhoun endorsed something along

175-496: A rival state might derive greater benefit from their own appropriations, others consider these events in a different light. The preliminary report of the Inland Waterways Commission issued in 1908, provides a unique topical perspective on these and other concurrent historical events on-going at the time. It notes: "The earliest movement toward developing the inland waterways of the country began when, under

210-434: A tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other "internal improvements" to develop profitable markets for agriculture. Funds for these subsidies would be obtained from tariffs and sales of public lands. Clay argued that a vigorously maintained system of sectional economic interdependence would eliminate the chance of renewed subservience to

245-472: Is not supported by subsequent events and the growth in federal spending on them. While President James Monroe 's announced support for the bonus bill veto slowed improvements legislation during the early part of his administration, the first salvo arrived on March 14, 1818, when the House passed a resolution declaring that Congress had the power to appropriate money for the construction of roads and canals and for

280-492: The Postmaster General . The U.S. Supreme Court construed the power narrowly during the early part of the 19th century, holding that the power consisted mostly for the designation of roads and sites, but gradually gave way later on allowing appropriation of land for postal purposes. The Postal Power also includes the power to designate certain materials as non-mailable, and to pass statutes criminalizing abuses of

315-548: The US House of Representatives on February 8, 1817 and did slightly better (20–15) in the US Senate on February 27. On the last day of his administration, on March 3, 1817, Madison vetoed the bill for fear that Clay, Calhoun, and their supporters were playing too fast and loose with the Constitution. He felt that Congress did not have the power under the Constitution to effect internal improvements . Additionally, Madison

350-512: The "general welfare" or "public good", another strand unraveled from the republican tapestry to denounce such schemes as "corruption", taxing the many to benefit the few. Critics of internal improvement schemes did not have to dig deep under the veneer of "public good" to uncover self-interest. Washington's scheme for Potomac River improvement also happened to pass conveniently by his Mount Vernon estate and extend westward toward some 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of undeveloped land in his possession. By

385-440: The 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure : roads, turnpikes , canals, harbors and navigation improvements. This older term carries the connotation of a political movement that called for the exercise of public spirit as well as the search for immediate economic gain. Improving the country's natural advantages by developments in transportation was, in the eyes of George Washington and many others,

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420-506: The American coastal plain did share an interest in developing the transportation infrastructure of the country. Unlike Europe, they were isolated from one another by poor inland transportation links and the legacy of their colonial trading patterns , and separated from their interior lands by formidable geographic obstacles . George Washington repeatedly pressed his vision of a network of canals and highways to be created and overseen through

455-590: The Court took a more assertive approach in striking down postal laws which limited free expression , particularly as it related to political materials. The First Amendment thus provided a check on the Postal Power. Internal improvements Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of

490-706: The Cumberland Road apparently included no significant discussion of the Constitutional questions involved. The issue of government subsidies for internal improvements was a key point of contention between the two major political factions in America for the first sixty years of the 19th century, specifically the mercantilist Hamiltonian Federalists and the more-or-less laissez faire Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans . Political support began with Alexander Hamilton and his Report on Manufactures at

525-630: The Treasury Albert Gallatin 's 1808 Report on the Subject of Public Roads and Canals was one such early plan. Henry Clay 's American System , devised in the burst of nationalism that followed the War of 1812 , remains one of the most historically significant examples of a government-sponsored program to harmonize and balance the nation's agriculture, commerce, and industry. This "System" consisted of three mutually reinforcing parts:

560-514: The auspices of wise leaders at the head of an active republican government. This initial thrust for internal improvements fell victim to what Washington considered the narrow-minded and provincial outlook of the individual states, and federal authority hamstrung by the Articles of Confederation to the point of impotence. The fledgling government , however, set historic precedent and broad transportation policy in 1787 concerning new lands west of

595-491: The basis of political and regional contention. Federal assistance for "internal improvements" evolved slowly and haphazardly; it became the product of contentious congressional factions and an executive branch generally concerned with avoiding unconstitutional federal intrusions into state affairs. Late project successes, both European and pre-revolutionary, demonstrated the time and cost savings as well as greater potential commerce and profit which these improvements created, but

630-425: The benefit of another, creating self-perpetuating bureaucracies, distant governments undermining local authority, and subsidizing the schemes of the wealthy at public expense. The federal role in funding and constructing internal improvements was one of the most persistent and contentious issues of American politics in the years after the revolution. With independence, elites based in the various regional economies of

665-499: The early inability of Congress to develop a system of appropriations hobbled federal efforts; this threw responsibility for internal improvements on the states, following the veto of the Bonus Bill of 1817 . New York scored fabulous success in 1825 with completion of its Erie Canal , but other state programs sank due to a combination of excessive ambition, shaky financing, and internal squabbling. One early government-funded project

700-561: The end of the 1790s, leaders of the emerging Democratic-Republican Party regularly assaulted the "monied gentry" and their improvement plans as visionary and extravagant, and gradually eroded public confidence in government action and authority. In their assaults on the Federalists' national agenda, Old Republicans perfected a language of opposition that provided the template for almost all future critiques of federal power: fear of centralized power, burdening taxpayers, taxing one locale for

735-466: The free-trade, laissez-faire "British System." In the years from 1816 to 1828, Congress enacted programs supporting each of the American System's major elements. After the 1829 inauguration of Andrew Jackson , with his administration's emphasis on a limited role for the federal government and sectional autonomy, the American System became the focus of anti-Jackson opposition that coalesced into

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770-514: The improvement of watercourses. On May 4, 1822, Monroe vetoed a bill to fund and collect tolls on the Cumberland Road. In an unprecedented step, the president used the occasion to present a report titled "Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements." In the critical document, Monroe made clear that the Constitution did not empower Congress to establish any system of internal improvements, but he stated, "To

805-570: The influence of George Washington, Virginia and Maryland appointed commissioners primarily to consider the navigation and improvement of the Potomac; they met in 1785 in Alexandria and adjourned to Mount Vernon, where they planned for extension, pursuant to which they reassembled with representatives of other States in Annapolis in 1786; again finding the task a growing one, a further conference

840-456: The lines of Albert Gallatin 's 1808 Report, which had been printed in 1816. Initially proposed as an open-ended financing mechanism for improvements, the bill by the time of its passage, required for each state to benefit equally from the new fund and to approve all federal activities within its borders. Those compromises weakened the bill and underscore how difficult it was to effect improvements broadly and singly. The bill narrowly (86-84) passed

875-539: The need and stated goals of improvements, he vetoed the bill as unconstitutional because he found no expressed congressional power to fund roads and canals in Article I, Section 8 , of the United States Constitution . His veto message represented an important explication by the "Father of the Constitution." The bonus of $ 1.5 million and dividends, estimated at $ 650,000 annually, would be used as

910-556: The new Whig Party under the leadership of Henry Clay. Bonus Bill of 1817 The Bonus Bill of 1817 was legislation proposed by John C. Calhoun to earmark the revenue "bonus," as well as future dividends, from the recently established Second Bank of the United States for an internal improvements fund. Proponents of the bill stressed the nearly universally accepted need for improvements and brushed off strict constructionists with their own arguments in favor of "implied powers." Although President James Madison approved of

945-488: The original colonies in the Northwest Ordinance ; it established free usage of its inland waterways and their connecting portages , and expressed this intent for any other lands and resources in future states. While some consider that Washington watched as rivalries between the states of Maryland and Virginia gradually rendered his Potomac Company null and void by withholding public monies, out of fear that

980-596: The postal system (such as mail fraud and armed robbery of post offices). This power has been used by Congress and the Postmaster General to exclude obscene materials from the mail, beginning with an act in 1872 to ban lottery circulars from the mail, as well as the Comstock laws in 1873. These attempts at limiting the content of the mail were upheld by the Supreme Court, but in the 20th century,

1015-598: The responsibility for handling newspaper delivery, and also suggested that the Post Office be placed under the supervision of the executive branch (a suggestion which later led to the creation of the Post Office Department ). Thomas Jefferson feared that the postal service would become a source of patronage and a waste of money. Jefferson also expressed doubt at granting Congress the power to designate post roads, as he considered road building to be

1050-618: The turn of the 19th century, and continued with the Whig Party , led by Henry Clay from 1832 until its demise in 1852, and then by the Republican Party from its formation in 1856. Support for internal improvements became a part of the economic plan , and the economic school of thought that would develop, but it would not come easily. While the Federalist strand of republicanism defended internal improvements as agents of

1085-522: The world, the 1803 Louisiana Purchase greatly enhanced the area claimed, as well as the need for developmental improvement. The acquisition brought the combined lands of the Missouri , Ohio , and Mississippi River basins all under federal control. Many Americans also shared the belief that increased inter-regional communications would strengthen the fragile union by fostering shared economic interests. The case for federally funded internal improvements

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1120-492: Was appalled at the logrolling and blatant pork barrel spending that accompanied the Bonus Bill debates. That led him to believe that "special-interest issues like internal improvements inexorably corrupted the legislative process." A last-ditch effort to override the veto failed. For most scholars, the failure of the Bonus Bill marks the end of efforts to establish a federal system of internal improvements, but that view

1155-578: Was arranged in Philadelphia in 1787, with delegates from all the States. There the deliberations resulted in the framing of the Constitution , whereby the thirteen original States were united primarily on a commercial basis —the commerce of the times being chiefly by water." Although the country already had an extensive coastline, inland river systems, and the largest freshwater lake system in

1190-688: Was the Cumberland Road , which Congress approved in 1806 to build a road between the Potomac River and the Ohio River; it was later pressed on through Ohio and Indiana and halfway through Illinois, as well along what is now U.S. Route 40. It became the National Road and was the single largest project of the antebellum era , with nearly US$ 7 million in federal dollars spent between 1806 and 1841. The debates on Ohio statehood and on

1225-471: Was thus strong, because such a program could serve both local and national economic interests as well as a critical nation-building role. Promoters furthermore made a convincing case that only the federal government could effect the desired projects, since the federal budget typically operated in surplus while the states lacked adequate resources, and the states faced difficult coordination problems best solved through national political institutions. Secretary of

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