[AKbear]

Not only is it that simple, Madison wrote about it in several of his Federalist Papers, specificially #41. The general welfare clause it nothing more than an introductory clause to the following powers of congress.

[justshutupandtakeit]

That is a rather contrived argument not supported by the structure of the sentence. If that was what was intended the sentence should not have been structured that way. I have seen the argument in 41 and don't buy it.

Many times presidents vetoed bills claiming that they were not for the "general" welfare but for state or local interests. This implied they understood the bills not to be unconstitutional in their intent but in their effect. I am unaware of any of Hamilton's or Marshall's thinking on this issue not that they would differ from each other much anyway since Marshall used Hamilton's legal reasoning over and over and acknowledged the source.