One of the key features of the United States Constitution is the concept of limited, enumerated powers. This idea limits what the national government can do by creating a specific list that tells each branch of the federal government what it has authority to do. This is an extremely important concept. When enforced, it protects the people from their government officials crossing the line between protecting their rights and telling them how they must live their lives.

There is no question that the framers of the Constitution wanted to protect the citizens of the United States against an excess of government control. There is another interesting side of this coin. The Declaration of Independence includes a list of grievances against the King of England. This list was intended to prove to the world that the colonies were justified in their decision to seek independence from their mother country. A careful reading of the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence shows the depth of conviction the signers of the Declaration of Independence felt in their obligation to show loyalty to their country. They valued patriotism and felt deeply their responsibility to be good citizens. This belief was so deep that they felt that they had an obligation to explain to the entire world why they felt like they had sufficient reasons to “dissolve the bands” that connected them to England.

In the list of reasons that were given to justify the colonists’ decision to seek independence, the first eight are all connected with the idea that the king was, in various ways, stopping the colonists from passing needed laws. The very first grievance listed is, “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”  It is apparent that the colonists considered the lack of ability to put needed laws into place to be a significant problem - a problem big enough to make the top of the list of complaints against their current form of government.

Added to this list of grievances, the framers of the Constitution had just experienced several years of government under the Articles of Confederation, which granted almost no power to a national government. They well understood the importance of granting enough power to a central government to pass needed legislation, ensuring peace, order, and the protection of rights. To complement this, they needed to ensure that the system of government could continue to operate, even when unfavorable circumstances occurred.

When we read the Constitution with this objective in mind, we see the many ways in which it was designed to perpetuate the system of government which it established. In Article 1, Section 2, we read, “When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.” This protected the right of the citizens of that state to maintain their representation in the House of Representatives and obligated the Executive Authority of the State to ensure that the business of Congress was not interrupted by vacancies. 

Article 2, Section 5 ensures that needed legislation cannot be blocked by legislators who simply refuse to show up to vote. While requiring a majority of the members of each house to be present in order to vote on legislation, a “smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members…” Also, in Section 5, there is protection against legislation being blocked by either the House of Representatives or the Senate adjourning for more than three days during a Session of Congress, unless the other house agrees.

We find another example of the methods used by the founding fathers to ensure that the government could continue to operate in Article 2, where provisions are made to ensure that if the President cannot fulfill his duties for any reason, the Vice President will take over. If the Vice President is unable to take over for any reason, Congress was assigned the responsibility to create laws determining who will act as the President.

While there is certainly an argument to be made that government has far surpassed its granted authority and made many laws that it had no authority to make, history reminds us to be grateful to live in a country with a system of government that is continually operational and laws are in place that provide order and protection. God bless the USA!