Final Thoughts When I started writing about general well-being, I first thought it might be a two, three, or four article parts, but it eventually turned into TEN and now eleven parts, and I'm still doing it. Didn't cover everything I wanted. I was, however, able to address the various arguments and circumstances surrounding the term “general well-being” in many ways. Throughout the discussion, we covered some of its early origins and uses, how it became part of the Constitution, and the debates over it after the Convention ended and up to the point when the Supreme Court started hearing arguments about it [which is another discussion in itself]. The focus here has not been on what the Supreme Court thought of the term in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, but on how others thought of it before and shortly after that it has become law. Why it was used, and what its pedigree was for those who decided to enshrine it in the Constitution, and how it was perceived by those who ratified it. Throughout these discussions, from the Articles of Confederation to the letters of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, a little becomes relatively obvious about general welfare. Its origin comes directly from the Articles of Confederation. In these articles the term carried no weight of power, but was used to describe the purpose of subsequent powers. No debate took place within the Convention of 1787 on this term. This compares to the long debates over almost every other power granted by the Constitution. It is remarkable that this term is the means of a broad general power and is NOT up for debate, while other much less important powers have generated intense debate. This can only imply that it was never considered a general power. Even in the most extensive Constitution...... middle of paper ......d Constitution, although the newspapers reflect the fact that he submitted one for consideration. The draft used as a proposal was submitted by Pinckney himself in 1818 years after the Convention, as an attempt was made to collect and preserve all the information from the Convention itself by future President John Quincy Adams. The fact that the limited Convention documents detail his proposals calls into question the accuracy of the draft he submitted as being the one actually proposed on May 29, 1787, although James Wilson's notes discovered in the early 1900s tend to to show a big difference. which he submitted as accurate.3 Encyclopedia BritannicaReferences: Articles of ConfederationUnited States ConstitutionConstitutions in force in 1787; Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, New HampshireMax Farrands' Convention Papers