8905. WAR, Power to declare.—[continued].
We have already given, in example, one effectual check to the dog of
war, by transferring the power of declaring
war from the Executive to the legislative
body, from those who are to spend to those
who are to pay. I should be pleased to see
this second obstacle [that no generation shall
contract debts greater than may be paid during
the course of its own existence], held out
by us also, in the first instance.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. iii, 108.
Ford ed., v, 123.
(P.
1789)
See Generations.
