First of all, it is important to understand that the United States was initially founded as a confederacy. This means that the founding fathers sought to give more power to the people and the states and not the federal government. I am therefore taking an antifederalist with a loose constitutional approach in my interpretation of the Enumerated powers clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, the ninth amendment and the tenth amendment. First I will begin with the Enumerated Powers Clause. This Clause gives Congress specific powers like the control of interstate commerce, which includes taxation, control of the military among other powers. As an antifederalist, specific powers like the regulation of interstate commerce granted to federal Congress should have been left to the states. This is because states tend to have different trade policies, and the participation of a state in interstate commerce should be done with the authenticity and authorization of a particular state. This means that each state should be allowed to dictate who to trade with and how to trade. It worth noting that states have the capacity to do so, as it has been evident in recent years. Governors have been involved in the search for international markets for their own states. In fact, the size of some states like California is equivalent to the size of a nation-state and therefore it was worthwhile that some of the powers granted to congress be granted to the states’
Focusing on the Necessary and proper clause, as a loose constructionist, I interpret the clause as one that expand the power of Congress to key sectors within the states that are considered as being subsidiaries of the enumerated powers. This is because states have the power to control their own mechanisms like trade, but since federal law aces state law, Congress can intervene when trades get into a dispute over an area related to a key enumerated power. I take issue with the federalist interpretation that the elastic clause means that Congress can create law in order to defend its ability to execute a given enumerated power. Congress has no such power, considering that Congress power is yielded to the institution by the electorate. Congress can therefore not create a law to preserve its power because its power comes from the people and the states.
As an antifederalist I support the tenth amendment that those powers that are not granted to the US Congress be granted to the states. This is because the United States was founded on the principles of a confederacy that granted more power to the states than the federal government. I also interpret the ninth amendment as one that was formulated to enhance the provision liberty, protection of constitution rights, and liberty. This is because the United States if founded on the principle of an individualistic society. The individual and not community is the most important entity in society. This is principle upon which the Bill of Rights was structured.
