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→History: add Bankruptcy Clause text
== History ==
== History ==
Article I, § 8, cl. 4, of the [[U.S. Constitution]] provides that Congress shall have the power to establish "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States."
A primary motivation for this clause was the interest in avoiding unjust imprisonment for debt and making federal discharges in bankruptcy enforceable in every State was a primary motivation for the adoption of that provision. But it extends broader than that, covering the entire "subject of Bankruptcies."
The [[Supreme Court]] has thus held that the power granted to Congress by that Clause is a unitary concept rather than an amalgam of discrete segments.<ref>''[[Cent. Va. Cmty. College v. Katz]]'', 546 U.S. 356 (2006).</ref>
However, for over a dozen years after the ratification of the Constitution, Congress failed to adopt a single bankruptcy law.<ref>''See, e.g.'', 9 Annals of Congress 2671 (1799) (noting that Congress had "not ... passed [bankruptcy legislation] for these ten years past, and the States [have] legislated upon it in their own way" (statement of Rep. Baldwin)); 3 Farrand's Debates 380 (same).</ref> It was not until April 4, 1800, that the Sixth Congress finally adopted our Nation's first bankruptcy law, ch. 19, 2 Stat. 19, a law that left plenty of room for state law, § 61, id., at 36.<ref>In contrast, the very first Congress enacted other sweeping legislation including, ''[[inter alia]]'', patent and copyright legislation. 1 Stat. 109, 124.</ref>
The first [[federal]] bankruptcy law was repealed by [[Congress]] just three years later.<ref>2 Stat. 248.</ref> A decade later, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] confirmed that the Bankruptcy Clause does not vest exclusive power in Congress, but instead leaves an important role for the States.<ref>See Sturges v. Crowninshield, 17 U.S. 122, 4 Wheat. 122, 4 L. Ed. 529 (1819).</ref> It was not until 1841 that Congress enacted another bankruptcy law, ch. 9, 5 Stat. 440, and then repealed it less than two years later, ch. 82, id., at 614. The [[Civil War]] and the debts it caused led Congress to pass another bankruptcy law in 1867, ch. 176, 14 Stat. 517, but that was likewise repealed after just over a decade, ch. 160, 20 Stat. 99.
The first [[federal]] bankruptcy law was repealed by [[Congress]] just three years later.<ref>2 Stat. 248.</ref> A decade later, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] confirmed that the Bankruptcy Clause does not vest exclusive power in Congress, but instead leaves an important role for the States.<ref>See Sturges v. Crowninshield, 17 U.S. 122, 4 Wheat. 122, 4 L. Ed. 529 (1819).</ref> It was not until 1841 that Congress enacted another bankruptcy law, ch. 9, 5 Stat. 440, and then repealed it less than two years later, ch. 82, id., at 614. The [[Civil War]] and the debts it caused led Congress to pass another bankruptcy law in 1867, ch. 176, 14 Stat. 517, but that was likewise repealed after just over a decade, ch. 160, 20 Stat. 99.