James Madison Weighs In

"Those who ratified the constitution conceived that this is not an indefinite government deriving its powers from the general terms prefixed in the specified powers, but a limited government, tied down to the specified powers which explain and define the general terms."

2nd congress, 1st session 1792

"The Federal Government has been hitherto limited to specified powers, by the greatest champions for latitude in expounding these powers. If not only the means, but the objects, are unlimited, the parchment had better be thrown into the fire at once."

Madison to Edmund Pendleton, Feb. 21, 1792.