Indeed, Jeffersonian democracy became embodied in what John O’Sullivan, editor of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, called the “voluntary principle” or the “principle of freedom.” In 1837 he wrote, “The best government is that which governs least . . . . should be confined to the administration of justice, for the protection of the natural equal rights of the citizen, and the preservation of the social order. In all other respects, the voluntary principle, the principle of freedom . . . affords the true golden rule.” During the nineteenth century most Americans took it for granted that the federal government has no constitutional authority to engage in public charity (to legislate forced transfers to help some individuals at the expense of others). It was generally understood that the powers of the federal government are delegated, enumerated, and therefore limited, and that there is no explicit authority for the welfare state. From a classical-liberal, or market-liberal, perspective, then, the role of government is not to “do good at the taxpayers’ expense,” but “to prevent harm.” The general-welfare clause of the Constitution cannot be used to justify the welfare state. That clause simply states that the federal government, in

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