Hi,
Please allow me to break down you question into two parts.
First, is the "promote the general welfare" an actual clause in the
preamble to the U.S. Constitution. Yes it is. Not only is it a clause
in the preamble, it is also a clause in Article 1 Section 8
"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties,
Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common
Defence and general Welfare of the United States"
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/sections/document/forsearch/a1s8.asp
Your second question...does it have a legal foundation?
I would take that asking either one of two questions. First, since the
promote the general welfare is in the consititution, it does have a
legal foundation and Congress has the legal power to raise money to
support the general welfare.
The second interpretation of the question would be, "did the founding
Fathers have legal precedent for inserting the "promote the general
welfare clause".
The answer would be yes and no. When writing and defending the
Constitution through the Federalist papers, the founding Fathers,
especially Hamilton, Madison and Jay (the authors of the Federalist
papers) used many historical references to philosophy and governments
as arguments to persuade the states to ratify the consitution, from
Livy and the Romans, to the English Revolution.
It's a tradition of liberal philosophy (philosophies of governments
based on the liberty of subjects) that free individuals unite in
government for their own interest, to promote general welfare such as
a common defense and common laws.
Of course the founding Fathers recognized differences of opinion with
respect to the exact nature of legal precedent, consider Madison's
remarks in Federalist's 37.
"The experience of ages, with the continued and combined labors of the
most enlightened legislatures and jurists, has been equally
unsuccessful in delineating the several objects and limits of
different codes of laws and different tribunals of justice. The
precise extent of the common law, and the statute law, the maritime
law, the ecclesiastical law, the law of corporations, and other local
laws and customs, remains still to be clearly and finally established
in Great Britain, where accuracy in such subjects has been more
industriously pursued than in any other part of the world."
As to the interpretaion of the promote the general welfare clause in
American history, well, that's always going to be debated. It's tough
to define and determine the general welfare, or good for the abstract
whole of the American people. One example would be environmental
protection. President Roosevelt believed that it was in the general
welfare to create a National Park system for the American people and
spent considerable time promoting environmental issues as being for
the general welfare of the people.
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/sections/history/1d1.asp
On the other hand, the minimalist interpretation of the general
welfare
Additional Resources:
The Federalist Papers from Yale
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm
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