today we're looking at article 1 section 8 9 and 10 of the us constitution
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the description that goes along with this video available at dailybellringer.com article 1 of
the us constitution establishes and defines the legislative branch of the u.s government remember
the united states government has three branches legislative executive and judicial the job of the
legislative branch is to make laws within article one two houses of the legislature or congress
is established the house of representatives and the senate we already covered in previous sections
of article one some of the requirements for the two houses some of the rules and how a bill
becomes a law now with these last three sections of article one we start getting into the powers
of the congress article 1 section 8 gives specific powers to congress when you think of a superhero
there's always a source of their power whether it be you know radiation or some alien power source
or something like that well with section 8 that's kind of what this is for congress that's where
it gets its powers this is the section that gives the legislative branch its authority to
to do different things now i'm not going to list all of the powers just a few one of the primary
powers given to congress is the power to raise money or in other words to tax the american people
remember under the articles of confederation which was the first constitution of the united
states continental congress did not have the power to tax and it caused all kinds of problems
so the founders wanted to make sure in this new constitution that congress had the power to tax
secondly congress is given the power to declare war i think a lot of people assume it is the
president of the united states that can declare war alone but congress is the one who holds this
power and it has to be voted on a president can request that congress declares war encourage
congress to declare war but the president cannot do that himself also congress has the power and
responsibility to maintain an armed forces or army navy air force and marines to defend our nation
providing for the common defense was one of the primary objectives of the constitution mentioned
in the preamble of the document some other powers include establishing post offices and regulating
commerce or trade between the states so article 1 section 8 establishes what powers congress has
you can probably guess article 1 section 9 states the powers congress does not have again article 1
section 9 really limits the powers of the congress some things congress cannot do include congress
cannot suspend or take away the right of habeas corpus habeas corpus is a latin term meaning
your right to be brought before a judge or a court and defend yourself if you are accused of a crime
this is a very important right because it means the government or authorities cannot simply
arrest someone and throw them in jail really for no reason they must prove that that person
is guilty and the person must have the opportunity to defend themselves against whatever charges are
brought against them also in section 9 it says congress cannot pass laws that give preference
to one state over another so no special treatment for any state every state is to be treated equally
a big one here is that no money can be taken from the national treasury
without passed law from congress issues that require the government to pay for something from
taxpayer dollars must be debated and voted upon and passed in order for money to be dispersed
an interesting one here is that congress can give no title of nobility so in other words
congress cannot declare someone to be the monarch or king of the united states remember after the
american revolution there were some who were actually pushing to have george washington
declared king of course washington responded and said no way we you know we just fought a
war to get out from under a king so you know what are you thinking just to review article 1 section
8 says what powers congress has while article 1 section 9 says what powers congress does not have
the last section here of article 1 is section 10 and section 10 is kind of an odd section to have
here because it doesn't deal directly with the legislative branch instead it tells the
state certain things they cannot do a few things listed here as being prohibited for the states are
printing their own money raising their own army or declaring war that's all of article one which
again focuses on establishing and organizing the legislative branch of the united states government
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching