The journal of the Federal Convention of 1787 analyzed : the acts and proceedings thereof compared ; and their precedents cited : in evidence of the making of the constitution for interpretation or construction in the alternative, according to either the federal plan or the national plan : that by the latter Congress have general power to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States ; direct taxes are taxes direct to the several states, in contrast with duties extending throughout the United States, which are indirect taxes to the several states ; and the limits of the Union are coextersive with the bounds of America