Jesse Wegman

And what he was doing there, he was making clear that this is a Constitution.

This is a government founded on people, not states, people.

We the people, he understood to be the three most important words in the Constitution.

Wilson very much wanted a powerful central government with several of the other founders on this point.

You know, he said, going back, I think, to 1776, he said, we are not so many states.

We are one large state.

We lay aside our individuality whenever we come here.

And I think that sort of sums up his philosophy.

He believed that the states were, you know, pointless, imaginary beings that deserve no respect.

And Wilson, in the Committee of Detail—

comes up with what we call the necessary and proper clause.

This is a clause that ends up being one of the most consequential in the Constitution.

It gives Congress massive power to legislate for the nation and over the states.

And, you know, there's a huge amount of resistance to it from

the opponents of the Constitution who come to be known as the anti-federalists.

But Wilson pushes strongly for the inclusion of this clause because he believes Congress cannot legislate.

It can't do its job.

The federal government can't do its job without an enormous amount of power, without enormous latitude and authority to pass laws and do the things that a federal government needs to do, such as

raise an army, collect taxes, all of these things.

Congress has used that clause throughout American history to justify its power to pass laws that have transformed America.