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Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
    The power over the “purse” was considered the most important of the powers that any government could wield; indeed it was the British parliament’s attempt to tax the colonies without their consent that precipitated the American Revolution. The decision to give the federal government the power to levy taxes—a power denied to the government under the Articles of Confederation—may well have been the most important one made by the delegates to the Convention. It is noteworthy, however, that they gave the “people’s body,” the House of Representatives, the power to originate revenue bills.
    The next, lengthy portion of Article I, Section 7, is one of the hallmarks of the system of separation of powers and checks and balances. It spells out the process by which a legislative proposal must pass both houses of Congress and then receive the assent of the president before it can become law. It provides for a limited executive veto over congressional legislation but gives to the Congress the power, if it can muster a two-thirds majority, to override a presidential veto.
SECTION 8
    The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States:
    To Borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
    To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
    To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
    To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
    To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
    To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;
    To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
    To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
    To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
    To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
    To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
    To provide and maintain a Navy;
    To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
    To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
    To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
    To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And
    To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
    Many Americans think of their Constitution as a document that protects the liberties of American citizens by defining those things that the federal government cannot do. This is the