It is claimed only as being incidental to some one or more of the powers which are specifically granted. "The following are the powers from which it is said to be derived: (1) From the right to establish post offices and post roads; (2) from the right to declare war; (3) to regulate commerce; (4) to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and the general welfare; (5) from the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution all the powers vested by the constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof; (6) and lastly from the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory and other property of the United States. According to my judgment it cannot be derived from either of these powers, nor from all of them united, and in consequence it does not exist."[5] During the early years of this century, the subject of internal improvements relative to the building of roads and canals was one of the foremost political questions of the day. No sooner were the debts of the Revolutionary War paid, and a surplus accumulated, than a systematic improvement of the country was undertaken. The Cumberland Road was but one of several roads projected by the general Government. Through the administrations of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison large appropriations had been made for numerous improvements. The bill authorizing the levying of tolls was a step too far, as President Monroe held that it was one thing to make appropriations for public improvements, but an entirely different thing to assume jurisdiction and sovereignty over the land whereon those improvements were made. This was one of the great public questions in the first half of the present century. President Jackson's course was not very consistent. Before his election he voted for internal improvements, even advocating subscriptions by the Government to the stock of private canal companies, and the formation of roads beginning and ending within the limits of certain states. In his message at the opening of the first congress after his accession, he suggested the division of the surplus revenue among the states, as a substitute for the promotion of internal improvements by the general Government, attempting a limitation and distinction too difficult and important to be settled and acted upon on the judgment of one man, namely, the distinction between general and local objects.