Bonus Bill of 1817

The Bonus Bill of 1817 was legislation proposed by

United States Constitution. His veto message represented an important explication

Legislative history

The bonus of $1.5 million and dividends, estimated at $650,000 annually,

US Senate on February 27.^[1]

On the last day of his administration, on March 3, 1817, Madison vetoed the bill for fear that Clay, Calhoun, and their supporters were playing too fast and loose with the Constitution. He felt that Congress did not have the power under the Constitution to effect internal improvements.^[1]

Additionally, Madison was appalled at the logrolling and blatant pork barrel spending that accompanied the Bonus Bill debates. That led him to believe that "special-interest issues like internal improvements inexorably corrupted the legislative process."^[2] A last-ditch effort to override the veto failed.

Political legacy

For most scholars, the failure of the Bonus Bill marks the end of efforts to establish a federal system of internal improvements,^[1] but that view is not supported by subsequent events and the growth in federal spending on them.^[1] While President James Monroe's announced support for the bonus bill veto slowed improvements legislation during the early part of his administration, the first salvo arrived on March 14, 1818, when the House passed a resolution declaring that Congress had the power to appropriate money for the construction of roads and canals and for the improvement of watercourses.^[3] On May 4, 1822, Monroe vetoed a bill to fund and collect tolls on the Cumberland Road.

In an unprecedented step, the president used the occasion to present a report titled "Views of the President of the United States on the Subject of Internal Improvements." In the critical document, Monroe made clear that the Constitution did not empower Congress to establish any system of internal improvements, but he stated, "To the appropriation of the public money to improvements,... I do not see any well-founded constitutional objection...."^[1] Additional internal improvements legislation would later follow.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Stephen Minicucci, Internal Improvements and the Union, 1790–1860, Studies in American Political Development (2004), 18: p.160-185, (2004), Cambridge University Press DOI: 10.1017/S0898588X04000094
^
ISBN 978-0-8078-4911-8

^ Internal Improvements, Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States, by the Best American and European Writers. Lalor, John J., (Ed.), 1899.

External links

Text of Madison's Veto of the Bonus Bill

[MiniIntImp-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Stephen Minicucci, Internal Improvements and the Union, 1790–1860, Studies in American Political Development (2004), 18: p.160-185, (2004), Cambridge University Press DOI: 10.1017/S0898588X04000094

[LarsIntImp-2] 
ISBN 978-0-8078-4911-8

[CycloPolSci-3] Internal Improvements, Cyclopædia of Political Science, Political Economy, and the Political History of the United States, by the Best American and European Writers. Lalor, John J., (Ed.), 1899.

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