Excerpt from The Commercial Power of Congress, Considered in the Light of Its Origin Of course such a study is quite different from an essay in constitutional interpretation. For, if the terms of a constitution are plain, their Scope cannot be varied by reference to the state of contemporary opinion in the community in which, or the assembly by which, the instrument was framed. Nevertheless, it may be not without interest, and perhaps not without value, to repro duce, as graphically as we can, the events and the spirit of the times in which the Constitution was made, so that we may see again with the eyes and think the thoughts of its framers concerning their handiwork. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.