ADAMS: THE CONTROL OF THE PURSE. 213 



then, it is fair to say that what the letter of the constitution secures 

 is the right of the House to originate bills which lay a tax on the 

 people Or which remove a tax, and the right of the Senate to originate 

 appropriation bills or to amend revenue bills as it sees fit. But con- 

 sidering the spirit of the constitution another conclusion is reached. 

 The privilege of the House was given for the purpose of securing to 

 the people, through their representatives, the control of taxation. 

 The importance of appropriations in determining taxation Avas not 

 realized as it is today, nor was it expected that amendments on any 

 measure would be made so as to alter completely its intent. The 

 House must control appropriations and must limit Senate amend- 

 ments if it is to realize fully the intention of the constitutional 

 restriction. There are of course a great many laws enacted in each 

 session of Congress, and originating in the Senate, which render 

 necessary the expenditure of money, but such laws are passed merely 

 on the sufferance of the House. The House originates all the general 

 appropriation bills and has always done so. The purpose of the 

 constitution is fulfilled in part, in that the House does control finan- 

 cial matters. It remains to be seen whether the House further fulfills 

 the purpose of the constitution in being responsible for such control 

 to the people of the country. 



XII. Synopsis of contest in England, between lords and Commons, 



over control of financial affairs. 



The debates in Congress were, in many respects, very similar to 

 financial debates in the English Parliament, and for the purposes of 

 comparison, a brief account of the latter and of the control exercised 

 by the House of Commons, is inserted. 



In England the contest between monarch and people over the prin- 

 ciple of self-taxation was not ended imtil, in 1689, the Bill of Rights 

 finally gave control to the people. Chapter II of that document de- 

 clares " that levying money for or to the use of the Crown, by pretense 

 of prerogative, without grant of Parliament, or for longer time or in 

 other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal." Par- 

 liament never again found it necessary to assert by statute the right 

 of self-taxation. The principle upon which rest all the liberties of 

 the England of to-day, that the people have a right to determine 

 through their representatives the amount and purpose of taxation, was 

 firmly established.* But the contest now arose as to the rights of the 



'■'Feiklen in his Constitutional History of England, page lO-i. gives the following stattites 

 as being those most important in limiting arbitrary taxation: 



Magna Charta, 1215: Conttrmutio Vhi.n-tarum. I:3:t7: Ordinances of VM\: Right of Tallage 

 abolished. KUi) and I:!4S: King forbidden to tax wool: V.i'dl. LS71: Beuevolem-es declared 

 illegal, 14.S4: Monopolies surrendered, 1001. 1621: 1039: Petition of Right. lO-'S: .Ship Money 

 and distraint (jf Kniglithood abolished. 1C>41: Feudal iucitlents surrendered. 10 J(): Bill of 

 Rights, 16»9. 



