President Madison vetoed a bill that supported government funding of intern and approvals because he believed it was unconstitutional. Madison argued that the Constitution did not grant the federal government the power to fund internal improvements such as roads, canals, and bridges. He held a strict interpretation of the Constitution, known as strict constructionism, which limited the powers of the federal government to those explicitly outlined in the Constitution. According to his interpretation, funding internal improvements was the responsibility of individual states, not the federal government. Thus, he vetoed the bill to uphold his belief in limited federal powers and to prevent what he saw as an overreach by the government.
