The power of establishing post roads must, in every view, be a harmless
power, and may, perhaps, by judicious management, become productive of
great public conveniency. Nothing which tends to facilitate the
intercourse between the States can be deemed unworthy of the public
care.
PUBLIUS
____
FEDERALIST No. 43
The Same Subject Continued (The Powers Conferred by the
Constitution Further Considered)
For the Independent Journal.
Wednesday, January 23, 1788
MADISON
To the People of the State of New York:
THE FOURTH class comprises the following miscellaneous powers:
1. A power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by
securing, for a limited time, to authors and inventors, the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries."
The utility of this power will scarcely be questioned. The copyright of
authors has been solemnly adjudged, in Great Britain, to be a right of
common law. The right to useful inventions seems with equal reason to
belong to the inventors. The public good fully coincides in both cases
with the claims of individuals. The States cannot separately make
effectual provisions for either of the cases, and most of them have
anticipated the decision of this point, by laws passed at the instance
of Congress.
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