413. APPROPRIATIONS, The Constitution and.—
In the answer to Turreau, I think it would be better to lay more stress on
the constitutional bar to our furnishing the
money, because it would apply in an occasion
of peace as well as war. I submit to you,
therefore, * * * the inserting, “but, in indulging
these dispositions, the President is
bound to stop at the limits prescribed by our
Constitution and law to the authorities in his
hands. One of the limits is that `no money
shall be drawn from the Treasury but in
consequence of appropriations made by law,'
and no law having made any appropriation of
money for any purpose similar to that expressed
in your letter, it lies, of course, beyond
his constitutional powers.”—
To James Madison.
Ford ed., viii, 474.
(M.
Sep. 1806)
