The Powers of Congress

Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution sets forth the powers which may be exercised by the Congress (the following may not be exact quotes from the Constitution--read it for yourself):

Lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States
To borrow money on the credit of the United States
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states*, and with the Indian tribes (*this is perhaps the most raped part of the Constitution!)
To establish uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject on bankruptcies throughout the United States
To coin money, regulate its value, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States
To establish post offices and post roads
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited time to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries (copyrights and patents)
To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water
To raise and support armies
To provide and maintain a navy
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces (UCMJ, etc.)
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States
To exercise exclusive legislative control over the Federal District (which is now the District of Columbia), as well as over all places purchased by consent of the legislature of the state in which same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, etc. (A state legislature must consent before any property can be purchased for a Federal installation in its state.)
To make all laws necessary and proper to exercise the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

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