Kansas University Quarterly. 



Vol. II. APRIL, 1894. No. 4. 



The Control of the Purse in the United 

 States Government. 



BY E. D. ADAMS. 



Introduction. 



The investigation outlined in the following pages, of those pro- 

 visions of the constitution which relate to the control of financial 

 matters, was originally undertaken with the idea of tracing the 

 development of the principle of self-taxation in England, and of 

 noting how that principle came to be introduced into the United 

 States. It was found that a study of budgetary control by the 

 Commons in England amounted to little less than a study of the 

 growth of the English constitution, so that it seemed best to 

 confine the thesis to the consideration of the great provisions of 

 the constitution of the United States, and to trust to the reader 

 to remember that the presence of an article in the constitution, 

 granting to the House the privilege of originating revenue bills, is 

 due to the long recognized principle in England, that the people, 

 through their representatives in the Commons, should control the 

 extent and purpose of taxation. 



The history of the introduction of the constitutional restriction 

 referred to has been condensed also, so that the greater portion of 

 the thesis is devoted to the various debates in Congress upon the 

 correct interpretation of the constitution. These debates show that 

 the House of Representatives has put a broader construction upon 

 its privilege than was intended by the constitutional convention, and 

 has practically assumed supreme control over all financial matters. 

 Under these circumstances the natural inquiry is, whether or not the 

 House of Representatives secures to the people of the United States 

 that direct control over money matters which was intended by the 

 constitutional provision. In this connection a brief account is given 

 of the business organization of Congress and the effect of that organi- 

 zation upon the responsibility of representatives. 



(17.=il KAN. TTNIV. QHAR. VOT,. TT, NO. 4, APR. l«9i. 



