One way to limit the power of the new Congress under the Constitution was to be specific about what it could do. These enumerated, or listed, powers were contained in Article I, Section 8—the ...

Because the Constitution created a government of limited and enumerated powers, the Framers initially believed that a bill of rights was not only unnecessary, but also potentially dangerous.

This formalized the principle of enumerated powers, under which federal law can govern only as to matters within the terms of some power-granting clause of the Constitution. By including the ...

In the Tenth Amendment, the Constitution also recognizes the powers of the state governments. Traditionally, these included the “police powers” of health, education, and welfare. So many ...