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What is the “elastic clause” of the Constitution?
The “elastic clause” of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution… powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States.” Both sides in the fierce debate over the constitutionality of the proposal to create a National Bank made by Washington’s Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, the elastic clause was cited by both sides.
How was the elastic clause cited to oppose Hamilton’s bank proposal?
Those who opposed proposal to create the Bank of the United States, correctly claimed that the Constitution nowhere granted Congress the power to grant charters. Mostly Republicans and concentrated in the South, these so-called strict constructionists, advocated a strict reading of the Constitution, focused on the latter part of the elastic clause, claiming that the Constitution did not give Congress the power to grant the bank a charter, so that the passing of the bank charter could not be considered necessary and proper.
How was the elastic clause evoked in support of the bank proposal?
Claims that Congress could create the Bank of the United States relied upon a loose reading of the elastic clause of the Constitution. Hamilton and other constructionists, who were mostly Federalists and concentrated in the North, focused on the beginning of the clause, claiming it gave Congress the power to do anything not expressly forbidden by the Constitution.
How were Hamilton’s Treasury policies crucial to the new government’s success?
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton’s economic policies bolstered the federal government and put the nation on sound financial footing. Despite protests from Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans, Hamilton urged President Washington and Congress to support the development of American manufacturing, pass an excise tax to fund the government, assume all state and federal debts, fund those debts at par (at their face value), and create a Bank of the United States. The assumption of debt and funding at par (rather than at a smaller percentage of face value) gave the country credibility and encouraged speculators to invest in American enterprises. The excise tax filled the federal treasury, and the Bank of the United States helped stabilize the economy. Hamilton’s policies embodied the Federalists’ loose interpretation of the Constitution justified strong centralized government, which was perhaps the most important factor in success of the new government.
Was “Federalists versus Republicans” a reflection of “North versus South?”
More than anything else, the division of the nation into political parties exemplified the growing rift between North and South. The industrial North was decidedly Federalist, while the agricultural South was overwhelmingly Republican. Historians most often attribute this split to the differing economic modalities of the regions. Perhaps most important in the division into parties were the differing social concerns which grew out of industrial and agricultural economies.
