أمّا عبارة «الرفاه العام»، فقد رأيتُها دائماً مقيّدةً بتفصيل الصلاحيات المرتبطة بها. فأخذها بمعناها الحرفي المطلق تحويلٌ للدستور إلى كيانٍ لم يقصده واضعوه، وعلى ذلك شواهدُ كثيرة.

“With respect to the words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”James Madison