Show I W the WEEKLY I CONSTITUTIONAL by MAX BERNS BERN I II I Powers o of f Government I Why docs does our Constitution limit the powers It grants to our government govern ment meat The age old age old theory of government nt was that It and not the people was powerful all that th the people possessed pos pos' possessed JOg only such rights as the government gov saw fit to grant From this sprang the Idea that tho king can cando cando cando do no wrong and tho the divine right of kings It took four centuries for the Eng Eng- English English English lish to force torce their kings to sign the great liberating Magna charters charters Magna Charta in 1215 1216 the Petition of Rights In 1628 the Bill of Rights in 1689 The American Colonists suffered similarly In the Declaration of or Independence Independence In In- dependence they complained about the tho king for tor a long train of abuses and usurpations for making judges dependent on his will alone for combining with others to subject us to a jurisdiction unacknowledged by our laws for declaring the right to legislate for us In all cases for altering fundamentally the tho forms of our government and other repeated repeated repeated re injuries and usurpations e Profiting Fronting by these these- lessons our I I Constitution reverses th the old age Idea of or an powerful all government and Instead makes ours a government govern ment of or limited powers powers powers-a a government govern govern- I r. r mont ment In which the people are su suo preme Then to further assure keeping keep keep- keeping ing the tho government within the thes scope s scope ope of power given It the Tenth Amendment declares that the powers powers pow pow pow- ers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited prohibited pro pro- by it to the states are reserved reserved reserved re re- served to the states ly y or orto orto orto to the people Copyright 1937 by Max B Berns |