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Introduction
The CIS Critical Security Controls® (CIS Controls®) started as a
simple grassroots activity to identify the most common and
important real-world cyber-attacks that affect enterprises every day,
translate that knowledge and experience into positive, constructive
action for defenders, and then share that information with a wider
audience. The original goals were modest—to help people and
enterprises focus their attention and get started on the most
important steps to defend themselves from the attacks that really
mattered.
Led by the Center for Internet Security® (CIS®), the CIS Controls
have matured into an international community of volunteer
individuals and institutions that:
Safeguards selected for IG2 help security teams cope with increased
operational complexity. Some Safeguards will depend on enterprise-
grade technology and specialized expertise to properly install and
configure.
IG3 (Includes IG1 and IG2)
Overview
Safeguards
1.2
Address Unauthorized
Assets
Devices Respond • • •
Ensure that a process exists to address unauthorized assets on a weekly basis.
The enterprise may choose to remove the asset from the network, deny the asset
from connecting remotely to the network, or quarantine the asset.
1.3
Utilize an Active
Discovery Tool
Devices Detect • •
Number Title/Description Asset Type Security Function IG1 IG2 IG3
Utilize an active discovery tool to identify assets connected to the enterprise’s
network. Configure the active discovery tool to execute daily, or more frequently.
1.5
Use a Passive Asset
Discovery Tool
Devices Detect •
Use a passive discovery tool to identify assets connected to the enterprise’s
network. Review and use scans to update the enterprise’s asset inventory at least
weekly, or more frequently.
CIS Critical Security Control 2: Inventory and
Control of Software Assets
Overview
Safeguards
Ensure Authorized
2.2 Software is Currently Applications Identify
Supported
• • •
Ensure that only currently supported software is designated as authorized in the
software inventory for enterprise assets. If software is unsupported, yet necessary
for the fulfillment of the enterprise’s mission, document an exception detailing
mitigating controls and residual risk acceptance. For any unsupported software
without an exception documentation, designate as unauthorized. Review the
software list to verify software support at least monthly, or more frequently.
2.3
Address Unauthorized
Software
Applications Respond • • •
Ensure that unauthorized software is either removed from use on enterprise
assets or receives a documented exception. Review monthly, or more frequently.
Utilize Automated
2.4 Software Inventory
Tools
Applications Detect • •
Utilize software inventory tools, when possible, throughout the enterprise to
automate the discovery and documentation of installed software.
2.5
Allowlist Authorized
Software
Applications Protect • •
Use technical controls, such as application allowlisting, to ensure that only
authorized software can execute or be accessed. Reassess bi-annually, or more
frequently.
2.6
Allowlist Authorized
Libraries
Applications Protect • •
Use technical controls to ensure that only authorized software libraries, such as
specific .dll, .ocx, .so, etc., files are allowed to load into a system process. Block
Number Title/Description Asset Type Security Function IG1 IG2 IG3
unauthorized libraries from loading into a system process. Reassess bi-annually, or
more frequently.
2.7
Allowlist Authorized
Scripts
Applications Protect •
Use technical controls, such as digital signatures and version control, to ensure
that only authorized scripts, such as specific .ps1, .py, etc., files are allowed to
execute. Block unauthorized scripts from executing. Reassess bi-annually, or more
frequently.
CIS Critical Security Control 3: Data Protection
Overview
Safeguards
3.2
Establish and Maintain
a Data Inventory
Data Identify • • •
Establish and maintain a data inventory, based on the enterprise’s data
management process. Inventory sensitive data, at a minimum. Review and update
inventory annually, at a minimum, with a priority on sensitive data.
3.3
Configure Data Access
Control Lists
Data Protect • • •
Configure data access control lists based on a user’s need to know. Apply data
access control lists, also known as access permissions, to local and remote file
systems, databases, and applications.
3.5
Securely Dispose of
Data
Data Protect • • •
Securely dispose of data as outlined in the enterprise’s data management process.
Ensure the disposal process and method are commensurate with the data
sensitivity.
3.6
Encrypt Data on End-
User Devices
Devices Protect • • •
Encrypt data on end-user devices containing sensitive data. Example
implementations can include: Windows BitLocker®, Apple FileVault®, Linux® dm-
crypt.
3.9
Encrypt Data on
Removable Media
Data Protect • •
Encrypt data on removable media.
3.10
Encrypt Sensitive Data
in Transit
Data Protect • •
Encrypt sensitive data in transit. Example implementations can include: Transport
Layer Security (TLS) and Open Secure Shell (OpenSSH).
3.11
Encrypt Sensitive Data
at Rest
Data Protect • •
Encrypt sensitive data at rest on servers, applications, and databases containing
sensitive data. Storage-layer encryption, also known as server-side encryption,
meets the minimum requirement of this Safeguard. Additional encryption methods
may include application-layer encryption, also known as client-side encryption,
where access to the data storage device(s) does not permit access to the plain-
text data.
Segment Data
3.12 Processing and Storage Network
Based on Sensitivity
Protect •
Implement an automated tool, such as a host-based Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
tool to identify all sensitive data stored, processed, or transmitted through
enterprise assets, including those located onsite or at a remote service provider,
and update the enterprise’s sensitive data inventory.
3.13
Deploy a Data Loss
Prevention Solution
Data Protect •
Implement an automated tool, such as a host-based Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
tool to identify all sensitive data stored, processed, or transmitted through
enterprise assets, including those located onsite or at a remote service provider,
and update the enterprise’s sensitive data inventory.
Number Title/Description Asset Type Security Function IG1 IG2 IG3
3.14
Log Sensitive Data
Access
Data Detect •
Log sensitive data access, including modification and disposal.
CIS Critical Security Control 4: Secure
Configuration of Enterprise Assets and
Software
Overview
Safeguards
Configure Automatic
4.3 Session Locking on
Enterprise Assets
Users Protect • • •
Configure automatic session locking on enterprise assets after a defined period of
inactivity. For general purpose operating systems, the period must not exceed 15
minutes. For mobile end-user devices, the period must not exceed 2 minutes.
Securely Manage
4.6 Enterprise Assets and Network
Software
Protect • • •
Securely manage enterprise assets and software. Example implementations
include managing configuration through version-controlled-infrastructure-as-code
and accessing administrative interfaces over secure network protocols, such as
Secure Shell (SSH) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Do not use
insecure management protocols, such as Telnet (Teletype Network) and HTTP,
unless operationally essential.
Manage Default
4.7 Accounts on Enterprise Users
Assets and Software
Protect • • •
Manage default accounts on enterprise assets and software, such as root,
administrator, and other pre-configured vendor accounts. Example
implementations can include: disabling default accounts or making them unusable.
Uninstall or Disable
4.8
Unnecessary Services
on Enterprise Assets
Devices Protect • • •
and Software
Uninstall or disable unnecessary services on enterprise assets and software, such
as an unused file sharing service, web application module, or service function.
Enforce Automatic
4.10
Device Lockout on
Portable End-User
Devices Respond • •
Devices
Enforce automatic device lockout following a predetermined threshold of local
failed authentication attempts on portable end-user devices, where supported. For
laptops, do not allow more than 20 failed authentication attempts; for tablets and
smartphones, no more than 10 failed authentication attempts. Example
implementations include Microsoft® InTune Device Lock and Apple®
Configuration Profile maxFailedAttempts.
Separate Enterprise
4.12 Workspaces on Mobile Devices
End-User Devices
Protect •
Ensure separate enterprise workspaces are used on mobile end-user devices,
where supported. Example implementations include using an Apple®
Configuration Profile or Android™ Work Profile to separate enterprise applications
and data from personal applications and data.
CIS Critical Security Control 5: Account
Management
Overview
Safeguards
Restrict Administrator
5.4 Privileges to Dedicated Users
Administrator Accounts
Protect • • •
Restrict administrator privileges to dedicated administrator accounts on enterprise
assets. Conduct general computing activities, such as internet browsing, email,
and productivity suite use, from the user’s primary, non-privileged account.
5.6
Centralize Account
Management
Users Protect • •
Centralize account management through a directory or identity service.
CIS Critical Security Control 6: Access Control
Management
Overview
Safeguards
6.2
Establish an Access
Revoking Process
Users Protect • • •
Establish and follow a process, preferably automated, for revoking access to
enterprise assets, through disabling accounts immediately upon termination, rights
Number Title/Description Asset Type Security Function IG1 IG2 IG3
revocation, or role change of a user. Disabling accounts, instead of deleting
accounts, may be necessary to preserve audit trails.
6.4
Require MFA for Remote
Network Access
Users Protect • • •
Require MFA for remote network access.
6.5
Require MFA for
Administrative Access
Users Protect • • •
Require MFA for all administrative access accounts, where supported, on all
enterprise assets, whether managed on-site or through a third-party provider.
6.7
Centralize Access
Control
Users Protect • •
Centralize access control for all enterprise assets through a directory service or
SSO provider, where supported.
Overview
Safeguards
7.2
Establish and Maintain a
Remediation Process
Applications Respond • • •
Establish and maintain a risk-based remediation strategy documented in a
remediation process, with monthly, or more frequent, reviews.
Perform Automated
7.3 Operating System Patch Applications Protect
Management
• • •
Perform operating system updates on enterprise assets through automated patch
management on a monthly, or more frequent, basis.
Perform Automated
7.4 Application Patch
Management
Applications Protect • • •
Perform application updates on enterprise assets through automated patch
management on a monthly, or more frequent, basis.
Perform Automated
7.5
Vulnerability Scans of
Internal Enterprise
Applications Identify • • •
Assets
Perform automated vulnerability scans of internal enterprise assets on a quarterly,
or more frequent, basis. Conduct both authenticated and unauthenticated scans,
using a SCAP-compliant vulnerability scanning tool.
Perform Automated
7.6
Vulnerability Scans of
Externally-Exposed
Applications Identify • •
Enterprise Assets
Perform automated vulnerability scans of externally-exposed enterprise assets
using a SCAP-compliant vulnerability scanning tool. Perform scans on a monthly,
or more frequent, basis.
7.7
Remediate Detected
Vulnerabilities
Applications Respond • •
Remediate detected vulnerabilities in software through processes and tooling on a
monthly, or more frequent, basis, based on the remediation process.
CIS Critical Security Control 8: Audit Log
Management
Overview
Collect, alert, review, and retain audit logs of events that could help
detect, understand, or recover from an attack.
There are two types of logs that are generally treated and often
configured independently: system logs and audit logs. System logs
typically provide system-level events that show various system
process start/end times, crashes, etc. These are native to systems,
and take less configuration to turn on. Audit logs typically include
user-level events—when a user logged in, accessed a file, etc.—and
take more planning and effort to set up.
Safeguards
Living over the great days of our forefathers, we now approach the
greatest of all. It comes four years after the end of the Revolution.
Not satisfied with a mere union of their states, the whole American
people, in 1787, proposed to form the great nation of men, America.
On June 21, 1788, it is created by them. On March 4, 1789, its only
government, now also the government of the continued union of
states, begins to function.
Between May 29, 1787, and March 4, 1789, the whole American
people did their greatest work for individual liberty. That was their
greatest day. Most Americans of this generation know nothing about
that period. Still more is it to be regretted that our leaders in public
life, even our most renowned lawyers, do not understand what was
achieved therein for human freedom. It is of vital importance to the
average American that he always know and understand and realize
that achievement. That he do so, it is not in the slightest degree
essential that he be learned in the law. It is only necessary that he
know and understand a few simple facts. The experience of five
years since 1917 teaches one lesson. It is that Americans, who have
not the conviction that they are great constitutional thinkers, far more
quickly than those who have that conviction, can grasp the full
meaning of the greatest event in American history.
The reason is plain. Back in the ages, there was a time when
scientific men “knew” that the earth was flat. Because they “knew” it,
the rest of men assumed that it was so. And, because they “knew” it,
it was most difficult to convince them that their “knowledge” was
false “knowledge.”
In a similar way, our statesmen and constitutional thinkers came to
the year 1917 with the “knowledge” that legislatures in America, if
enough of them combined, had exactly the omnipotence over the
individual freedom of the American which had been denied to the
British Parliament by the early Americans. Naturally, it is difficult for
them to understand that their “knowledge” is false “knowledge.” For
us who have no false knowledge to overcome, it is comparatively
simple to grasp what those other plain Americans of 1787 and 1788
meant to accomplish and did accomplish. Why should it not be
simple for us? With those other plain Americans, we have just been
through their strenuous years which immediately preceded their
greatest days of 1787 and 1788. They were a simple people as are
we average Americans of this generation. From living with them
through those earlier days, we have come to know their dominant
purpose. They sought to secure to themselves and to their posterity
the greatest measure of protected enjoyment of human life, liberty
and happiness against interference from outside America and
against usurpation of power by any governments in America.
Certainly, it ought not to be difficult for us to grasp accurately and
quickly what they meant to do and what they did do in their last and
greatest achievement in the quest of that protected enjoyment of
human freedom. But, with all our happy predisposition accurately to
understand the meaning of the facts in 1787 and 1788, that
understanding cannot come until we know the facts themselves. Let
us, therefore, live through those years with those other plain
Americans of whom we are the posterity. Only then can we
understand their legacy of secured liberty to us and keep it against
usurpation by those who do not understand.
So long as the former subjects continued their Revolution, it was
only natural that Americans should not realize how inadequately a
mere federation of states would serve really to secure the protected
enjoyment of individual human freedom. But, as soon as that war
had ended, discerning men began quickly to realize that fact.
Jealousies between nations, jealousies in abeyance while those
nations were fighting a common war for independence, quickly had
their marked effect upon the relations of these nations to one
another and upon the respect which they showed to the commands
of the government of the federation of which all those nations were
members. As a matter of fact, those commands, because the
governing powers of that government were wholly federal, were
tantamount to nothing but requisitions. Those requisitions were
honored largely by ignoring them. There was no way of enforcing
respect for them or compelling observance of them. The plan of a
purely federal union of nations permitted no method of enforcement
save that of war upon whatever nation or nations might refuse
obedience to a requisition. Such a war would have been repugnant
to the mind of every patriotic American.
This was only one of the many defects coming from the fact that
Americans, in spirit one people or nation, had no political existence
as one nation and had no general national government, with general
powers over all Americans, to command respect at home and
abroad for the individual freedom of the American.
There is neither time nor necessity for dwelling further upon the
fact, quickly brought home to the American people after the close of
their Revolution, that a purely federal government of the states was
no adequate security for their own freedom. Let the words of one of
themselves, apologizing for the inadequacy of that government,
attest their quick recognition that it was inadequate. They are the
words of Jay in The Federalist of 1787. This is what he said: “A
strong sense of the value and blessings of union induced the people,
at a very early period, to institute a federal government to preserve
and perpetuate it. They formed it almost as soon as they had a
political existence; nay, at a time when their habitations were in
flames, when many of their citizens were bleeding, and when the
progress of hostility and desolation left little room for those calm and
mature inquiries and reflections which must ever precede the
formation of a wise and well-balanced government for a free people.
It is not to be wondered at, that a government instituted in times so
inauspicious, should on experiment be found greatly deficient and
inadequate to the purpose it was intended to answer.” (Fed., No. 2.)
CHAPTER IV
THE BIRTH OF THE NATION
Living through those old days, immediately after the peace with
England of 1783, we find that public and official recognition of a fatal
defect in the federal form of union came from the inability of its
federal government, which had no power over commerce, to
establish a uniform regulation of trade among the thirteen American
nations themselves and between them and foreign nations.
Discerning men, such as Madison and Washington and others,
already recognized other incurable defects in any form of union
which was solely a union of nations and not a union of the American
people themselves, in one nation, with a government which should
have national, as well as federal, powers. Taking advantage of the
general recognition that some central power over commerce was
needed, the legislature of the nation of Virginia appointed James
Madison, Edmund Randolph and others, as commissioners to meet
similar commissioners to be appointed by the twelve other nations.
The instructions to these commissioners were to examine into the
trade situation and report to their respective nations as to how far a
uniform system of commerce regulations was necessary. The
meeting of these commissioners was at Annapolis in September,
1786. Only commissioners from the nations of Virginia, Delaware,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York attended. The other eight
nations were not represented.
Madison and Hamilton were both present at Annapolis and figured
largely in what was done there. It is an interesting and important fact
that these two played a large part from its very inception in the
peaceful Revolution which brought to an end the independent
existence of thirteen nations—a Revolution which subordinated
these nations, their respective national governments, and their
federation to a new nation of the whole American People, and to the
Constitution and the government of that new nation.
At every stage of that Revolution, these two men were among its
foremost leaders. Recorded history has made it plain that Madison,
more than any other man in America, participated in planning what
was accomplished in that Revolution. He drafted the substance of
most of the Articles in what later became the Constitution of the new
nation. By the famous essays (nearly all of which were written by
himself or Hamilton) in The Federalist, explaining and showing the
necessity of each of those Articles, he contributed most effectively to
their making by the people of America, assembled in their
conventions. He actually drew, probably in conference with Hamilton,
what we know as the Fifth Article, which will later herein be largely
the subject of our exclusive interest.
The Annapolis commissioners made a written report of their
recommendations. This report was sent to the respective legislatures
of the five nations, which had commissioners at Annapolis. Copies
were also sent to the Federal Congress and to the Executives of the
other eight nations in the federation. The report explained that the
commissioners had become convinced that there were many
important defects in the federal system, in addition to its lack of any
power over commerce. The report recommended that the thirteen
nations appoint “commissioners, to meet at Philadelphia on the
second Monday in May next, to take into consideration the situation
of the United States; to devise such further provisions as shall seem
to them necessary to render the constitution of the federal
government adequate to the exigencies of the Union; and to report
such an act for that purpose, to the United States in Congress
assembled as, when agreed to by them, and afterwards confirmed
by the legislature of every state, will effectually provide for the
same.”
The Annapolis recommendation was acted upon by the
legislatures of twelve nations. Each nation, except Rhode Island,
appointed delegates to attend the Philadelphia Convention to begin
in May, 1787. Madison himself, in his introduction to his report of the
debates of the Philadelphia Convention, gives his own explanation of
why Rhode Island did not send delegates. “Rhode Island was the
only exception to a compliance with the recommendation from
Annapolis, well known to have been swayed by an obdurate
adherence to an advantage, which her position gave her, of taxing
her neighbors through their consumption of imported supplies—an
advantage which it was foreseen would be taken from her by a
revisal of the Articles of Confederation.” This is mentioned herein
merely to bring home to the minds of Americans of the present
generation the reality of the fact, now so difficult to realize, that there
were then actually in America thirteen independent nations, each
having its powerful jealousies of the other nations and particularly of
its own immediate neighbors. The actual reality of this fact is
something which the reader should not forget. It is important to a
correct understanding of much that is said later herein. It is often
mentioned in the arguments that accompanied the making of our
Constitution, that the nation of New Jersey was suffering from
exactly the same trouble as the nation of Rhode Island was causing
to its neighbors. Almost all imported supplies consumed by the
citizens of New Jersey came through the ports of New York and
Philadelphia and were taxed by the nations of New York and
Pennsylvania.
Interesting though it would be, it is impossible herein to give in
detail the remarkable story of the four months’ Convention at
Philadelphia in 1787. It began on May 14 and its last day was
September 17. It is recommended to every American, who desires
any real knowledge of what his nation really is, that he read, in
preference to any other story of that Convention, the actual report of
its debates by Madison, which he himself states were “written out
from my notes, aided by the freshness of my recollections.” It is
possible only to refer briefly but accurately to those actual facts, in
the history of those four months, which are pertinent to the object of
this book.
At the very outset, it is well for us Americans to know and to
remember the extraordinary nature of the recommendation which
had come from Annapolis and of the very assembling of that
Philadelphia Convention. The suggestion and the Convention were
entirely outside any written law in America. Every one of the thirteen
colonies was then an independent nation. These nations were united
in a federation. Each nation had its own constitution. The federation
had its federal constitution. In none of those constitutions was there
any provision whatever under which any such convention as that of
Philadelphia could be suggested or held. The federal Constitution
provided the specific mode in which ability to amend any of its
federal Articles could be exercised. Such provision neither
suggested nor contemplated any such convention as that to be held
at Philadelphia. For these reasons, Madison and Wilson of
Pennsylvania and other leading delegates at that Convention stoutly
insisted that the Philadelphia Convention had not exercised any
power whatever in making a proposal.
“The fact is, they have exercised no power at all; and, in point of
validity, this Constitution, proposed by them for the government of
the United States, claims no more than a production of the same
nature would claim, flowing from a private pen.” (Wilson,
Pennsylvania State Convention in 1787, 2 Ell. Deb. 470.)
“It is therefore essential that such changes [in government] be
instituted by some informal and unauthorized propositions, made by
some patriotic and respectable citizen or number of citizens.”
(Madison, Fed. No. 40.)
But there was a development even more remarkable on the
second day of this unauthorized Convention.
The Convention was presided over by Washington. Among the
other delegates were Hamilton of New York, Madison and Randolph
and Mason of Virginia, Franklin and Wilson and Robert Morris and
Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, and the two Pinckneys of South
Carolina. Madison himself, speaking of the delegates in his
Introduction to his report of the Debates, says that they were
selected in each state “from the most experienced and highest
standing citizens.” The reader will not forget that each of these men
came under a commission from the independent government of a
sovereign and independent nation, twelve such independent
governments and nations being represented in that Convention. In
the face of this important fact, it is amazing to realize the startling
proposition offered for consideration, on May 30, 1787. On that day,
the Convention having gone into a Committee of the Whole,
Randolph, commissioned delegate from the independent
government and nation of Virginia, moved, on the suggestion of
Gouverneur Morris, commissioned delegate from another
independent government and nation, that the assembled delegates
consider the three following resolutions:
“1. That a union of the states merely federal will not accomplish
the objects proposed by the Articles of Confederation—namely,
common defense, security of liberty, and general welfare.
“2. That no treaty or treaties among the whole or part of the states,
as individual sovereignties, would be sufficient.
“3. That a national government ought to be established, consisting
of a supreme legislative, executive, and judiciary.” (5 Ell. Deb. 132.)
If we wish to realize the sensational nature of those resolutions, let
us assume for a moment a similar convention of delegates
assembled in the City of New York. Let us assume that the delegates
have been commissioned respectively by the governments of
America, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
France, Belgium and other nations. Let us assume that the
ostensible and proclaimed purpose of the convention, stated in the
commissions of the delegates, is that it frame a set of federal Articles
for a league or federation of the independent nations represented
and report the drafted Articles to the respective governments for
ratification or rejection. Let us then assume that, on the second day
of the convention, Lloyd George, on the suggestion of Charles E.
Hughes, calmly proposes that the convention, as a Committee of the
Whole, consider three resolutions, exactly similar to those proposed
by Randolph on May 30, 1787. Imagine the amazement of the world
when it found that the resolutions were to the effect that the
convention should draft and propose a constitution of government
which would create an entirely new nation out of the human beings
in all the assembled nations, and create a new national government
for the new nation, and destroy forever the independence and
sovereignty of each represented nation and its government and
subordinate them to the new national and supreme government.
This was exactly the nature of the startling resolutions of
Randolph. Moreover, before that one day closed, the Committee of
the Whole actually did resolve “that a national government ought to
be established consisting of a supreme legislative, executive and
judiciary.” The vote was six to one. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina voted “aye.”
From that day on, the Convention continued to prepare a proposal
involving the destruction of the complete independence of the
existing nations and of the governments which respectively
commissioned the delegates to the Convention. From that day on,
the Convention concerned itself entirely with the drafting of
constitutional Articles which would create a new nation, America, the
members thereof to be all the American people, and would constitute
a national government for them, and give to it national powers over
them, and make it supreme, in its own sphere, over all the existing
nations and governments.
It is interesting and instructive to know that all this startling
purpose, later completely achieved by appeal to the existing ability of
the possessors of the supreme will in America, the people,
assembled in their conventions, had not been the conception of a
moment.
We find Madison, by many credited with the most logical mind of
his remarkable generation, carefully planning, long before the
meeting of the Convention, a quite detailed conception of the
startling proposal of Randolph. In a letter from Madison to Randolph,
dated April 8, 1787 (5 Ell. Deb. 107), he speaks of “the business of
May next,” and of the fact “that some leading propositions at least
would be expected from Virginia,” and says, “I will just hint the ideas
that have occurred, leaving explanations for our interview.” When we
remember the remarkable manner, entirely novel in the history of
political science, in which our Constitution creates a new nation and
its supreme national government and yet keeps alive the former
independent nations and their federation, the next sentence of that
letter is of absorbing interest. It reads, “I think, with you, that it will be
well to retain as much as possible of the old Confederation, though I
doubt whether it may not be best to work the valuable articles into
the new system, instead of engrafting the latter on the former.” When
we read the detailed story of the Philadelphia Convention and study
its product, our Constitution, there worded and later made by the
people, we realize that Madison’s idea, expressed in the quoted
sentence, was accurately carried out largely through his own efforts.
Turning now to a later paragraph in that same April letter, we
marvel at the foresight, the logical mind and the effective ability of
the writer in later securing almost the exact execution of his idea by
the entire people of a continent, even though that idea was the
destruction of the independence of their respective nations and of
their existing respective governments. That paragraph reads: “I hold
it for a fundamental point, that an individual independence of the
states is utterly irreconcilable with the idea of an aggregate
sovereignty. I think, at the same time, that a consolidation of the
states into one simple republic is not less unattainable than it would
be inexpedient. Let it be tried, then, whether any middle ground can
be taken, which will at once support a due supremacy of the national
authority, and leave in force the local authorities so far as they can
be subordinately useful.”
This remarkable letter then goes on, paragraph by paragraph, to
suggest that, in the new Articles, the principle of representation be
changed, so as not to be the same for every state; the new
government be given “positive and complete” national power “in all
cases where uniform measures are necessary”; the new government
keep all the federal powers already granted; the judicial department
of the new government be nationally supreme; the legislative
department be divided into two branches; the new government have
an executive department; there be an Article guaranteeing each
state against internal as well as external dangers. In other words, the
letter reads like a synopsis of the principal provisions of our present
Constitution, although the letter was written over a month before the
Philadelphia Convention began to draft that Constitution.
One paragraph in that remarkable letter is very important as the
first of many similar statements, with the reasons therefor, made by
Madison in the Philadelphia Convention, in the Virginia convention
which ratified the Constitution and in The Federalist which urged its
ratification. Madison was writing his letter within a few short years
after the American people had made their famous Statute of 1776.
He knew its basic law that every ability in government to interfere
with individual freedom must be derived directly by grant from those
to be governed. He knew that governments could give to
government federal power to prescribe rules of conduct for nations.
He also knew that governments could not give to government any
power to prescribe rules of personal conduct which interfered with
the exercise of individual human freedom. In other words, he knew
the existing and limited ability of legislatures to make federal Articles
and that such limited legislative ability was not and never could be, in
America, competent to make national Articles. He also knew the
existing ability of Americans themselves, assembled in their
conventions, to make any kind of constitutional Article, whether it
were federal or national. He knew that the limited ability had been
exercised in making the federal Articles of the existing federation and
that the unlimited ability had been exercised, in each existing nation,
in making its national Articles.
With this accurate knowledge always present in his mind and
repeatedly finding expression by him in the ensuing two years, it is
natural that we find in his remarkable letter of 1787, after his
summary of what Articles the new Constitution ought to contain and
nearly every one of which it does contain, the following significant
statement: “To give the new system its proper energy, it will be
desirable to have it ratified by the authority of the people, and not
merely by that of the legislatures.” From such a logical American, it is
expected that we should find accurate echo again and again of this
deference to basic American law in such later expressions as his
statement in The Federalist, Number 37, “The genius of republican
liberty seems to demand ... that all power should be derived from the
people.”
Having thus grown well aware of the tremendous part played by
Madison in shaping the substance of the Constitution of government
under which we Americans live, let us return to the Philadelphia
Convention in which he figured so prominently and which worded
and proposed the Articles of that Constitution.
In the seven Articles, which were finally worded by that
Convention, there are but three which concern themselves at all with
the vesting of national power in government. They are the First, the
Fifth and the Seventh.
The First Article purports to give, in relation to enumerated
matters, all the national power which the Constitution purports
anywhere to grant to its only donee of power to make laws interfering
with human freedom, the national Legislature or Congress. Indeed,
the opening words of that First Article explicitly state that, “All
legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of
the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of
Representatives.” Then the remaining sections of that Article go on
to enumerate all the powers of that kind, the national powers, which
are granted in the Constitution by the donors, the American people
or citizens, assembled in their conventions.
If there be any doubt in the mind of any American that the First
Article contains the enumeration of all national powers granted by
the Constitution, the statements of the Supreme Court, voiced by
Marshall, ought to dispel that doubt.
This instrument contains an enumeration of powers
expressly granted by the people to their government.... In the
last of the enumerated powers, that which grants, expressly,
the means for carrying all others into execution, Congress is
authorized “to make all laws which shall be necessary and
proper” for the purpose. (Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1.)
This “last” of the enumerated powers, as Marshall accurately
terms it, is that granted in the last paragraph of Section 8 of the First
Article.
It is because the First Article IS the constitution of government of
the American citizen that his government has received its tribute as a
government of enumerated powers. This fact is clearly explained in
the Supreme Court in Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U. S. 46.