Any road that facilitates connecting any two post offices is Constitutional.
No, more than just Constitutional...such roads are *ENUMERATED* in our Constitution.
That you thought that such roads were unconstitutional speaks for itself.
Any road that facilitates connecting any two post offices is Constitutional.
No, more than just Constitutional...such roads are *ENUMERATED* in our Constitution.
That you thought that such roads were unconstitutional speaks for itself.
I dismissed this statement of yours too glibly, and it might give the impression that you're correct in your remarks above. I should remedy that.
The power to establish post roads was understood by many in the Constitutional debates to mean (1) the power to designate specific road as a "post road", and (2) the right of way to convey mail over said roads. They understood the power not to include the building of roads.
Under the Articles of Confederation, that's exactly how the power of the post was implemented: existing roads were designated "post roads", but new roads were not constructed by the federal government. After the Constitution was ratified, the very first act of Congress was entitled, "an act to establish post-offices and post-roads." It passed in 1799 and was amended in several acts, and finally repealed in 1810. Every version of this bill designated post roads, and no version ever dictated the contstruction of new roads. Other acts were passed at various times removing the designation of "post road" from various roads.
That the language of the Constitution includes the power of building roads is an interpretation. Admittedly, it is the interpretation that has carried the day for most of the history of the Republic--starting with President Jackson, who built roads into Georgia and other parts of the South.
Nevertheless, even with that interpretation, the power to create post roads is limited in scope to roads actually intended for conveyance of the mails. Elliot's commentary on the Constitution in 1833 argues that the power of road-building is inherent in the Constitution, but clarifies that this power is understood to be exercised only in cases of necessity--in particular, when usable state roads do not exist for the purpose.
As for the Interstate Highway system, it was generally agreed that this went beyond the Constitutional authority to build post roads. For this reason, "good road" bills in the late 1800's and early 1900's were ignored or voted down consistently by Congress. An important step toward changing that view was the introduction of Rural Free Delivery, whereby everyone everywhere got mail delivered to his house--making every road, in some sense, a "post road". Note that this exceeds the mandate of the Constitution, which provided for the creation of "post offices", and roads linking them, by effectively designating every address in the nation a "post office". Wilson signed the first highway funding bill in 1916, after years of lobbying, much of it by farmers.
In short, the federal funding of roads and highways is a classic example of mission creep, exceeding the authority granted in the Constitution.