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CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 2
The Elastic Clause
Read the situation. Connect the ideas. Show how you know.
Name ___________________________Class __________ Date __________
01 Recall, then make a connection.
enumerated power
implied power
means and end
Distinguish an enumerated power from an implied power. Use means and end to explain why a useful tool must still be connected to a legitimate constitutional purpose.
Read the situation.
Article I, Section 8 lists powers of Congress and includes authority to make laws necessary and proper for carrying those powers and other federal powers into execution. The Necessary and Proper Clause is often called the Elastic Clause. It recognizes that a constitution cannot list every administrative tool a government might need. It does not mean Congress can act without a connection to constitutional authority or ignore other constitutional limits.
02 Organize the information.
Ends and means
The museum uses these simplified examples to distinguish a constitutional power from a tool for carrying it out.
Sort the examples.
A. Listed constitutional powerB. Possible means requiring a constitutional connection
Example
Category letter
1. Congress’s power to lay and collect taxes.
2. Congress’s power to borrow money on the credit of the United States.
3. Administrative offices used to carry out an authorized revenue system.
4. A national bank justified as a means of carrying out federal fiscal powers.
5. Congress’s power to establish post offices and post roads.
Explain one placement using a detail from the example.
CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 2
What does the evidence show?
The Elastic Clause
03 Follow the evidence.
Select the relevant legal reasoning
The museum asks whether the national bank could serve constitutional federal purposes.
Select every item that supports the reasoning rather than merely showing popularity.
Congress has constitutional taxing and borrowing powers that require practical financial arrangements.
The bank is argued to be a means of carrying those federal fiscal powers into execution.
A majority of local merchants expected the bank to increase business.
State-chartered banks reported concern about competition without identifying a constitutional prohibition.
Name the useful records and explain how they answer the claim.
04 Apply the idea.
Stop the clause from stretching too far
A second label says, “The Elastic Clause means the federal government has no limits.”
Which correction belongs on the board?
The clause permits laws carrying granted powers into execution, within the Constitution’s other limits.
The clause lets a state cancel any federal power it dislikes.
The clause makes the amendment process unnecessary for changing any constitutional rule.
Choose a conclusion and explain why it fits the situation.
05 Carry the idea forward.
Write the museum’s final explanation. Use the terms enumerated power, implied power, means, and end. Explain the bank case and reject one overbroad interpretation.