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Early historical landmark Supreme Court case about the federal constitution’s commerce
clause. The New York state legislature had granted to two individuals exclusive navigation rights of
all the waters within the jurisdiction of the state with boats moved by fire or steam. The Supreme Court
found those acts repugnant to the commerce clause of the constitution of the United States, which
authorizes Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Congress had earlier passed specific acts licensing
vessels for carrying on the coasting trade and the state laws prohibited this trade.
Counsel for the state argued that the powers granted Congress through the constitution should be
construed strictly. The Court addressed that argument and in part stated, “As men, whose intentions
require no concealment, generally employ the words which most directly and aptly express the ideas they
intend to convey, the enlightened patriots who framed our constitution, and the people who adopted it,
must be understood to have employed words in their natural sense, and to have intended what they have
said.”
Full Text: Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S.
(Wheaton) 1 (1824) |