528
Interpreting and Preserving the Constitution
powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the
people.’’
The government, then, of the United States, can claim no powers which
are not granted to it by the Constitution, and the powers actually granted
must be such as are expressly given, or given by necessary implication. On
the other hand, this instrument, like every other grant, is to have a reasonable construction, according to the import of its terms; and where a power
is expressly given in general terms, it is not to be restrained to particular
cases, unless that construction grows out of the context expressly, or by
necessary implication. The words are to be taken in their natural and obvious sense, and not in a sense unreasonably restricted or enlarged.
The Constitution, unavoidably, deals in general language. It did not
suit the purposes of the people, in framing this great charter of our liberties, to provide for minute specifications of its powers, or to declare the
means by which those powers should be carried into execution. It was
foreseen that this would be a perilous and difficult, if not an impracticable, task. The instrument was not intended to provide merely for the exigencies of a