Okla-homey
3/2/2007, 08:43 AM
March 2, 1824: Steamboats, states' rights and the battle over interstate commerce
During the early nineteenth century, the Supreme Court was repeatedly called in to referee the power struggle between the states and the Federal government. 183 years ago on this day in 1824 (a full 36 years before the Civil War,) the Court handed down yet another ruling in a case that pitted Federalists against states' rights advocates.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/11873/2000972706732526911_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000972706732526911)
The case in question was Gibbons v. Ogden, which stemmed from the New York state government's decision in the late 1780s to hand Robert Fulton (of steamboat invention fame) and Robert Livingston a monopoly on steamboat navigation on NY state waterways.
Fulton and Livingston later sold their steamboat concern to Aaron Ogden, who soon discovered that, despite the state sanctioned monopoly, he had competition, in the person of fellow steamboat impresario Thomas Gibbons, for New York's waters.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/12524/2000981758126412182_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000981758126412182)
Robert Fulton, steamboat inventor and holder of a NY monopoly on steamboat operations
Ogden promptly sued Gibbons; in 1820, the New York Court of Chancery affirmed Ogden's monopoly holding the NY law license trumped Gibbons' federal license on NY waters.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/12313/2000912656656765064_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000912656656765064)
However, Gibbons, who held that his Federal trade license granted him rights to operate in New York's waters, refused to be defeated and took his case to the Supreme Court. The Court ultimately ruled in favor of Gibbons, a decision which effectively protected and affirmed the Federal government's power as the sole regulator of interstate trade.
". . . Few things were better known, than the immediate causes which led to the adoption of the present constitution . . . that the prevailing motive was to regulate commerce; to rescue it from the embarrassing and destructive consequences, resulting from the legislation of so many different States, and to place it under the protection of a uniform law."
— Chief Justice John Marshall
Thus, even way back in 1824, "Federalism": 1/"States Rights": 0
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/12976/2000961524042241880_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000961524042241880)
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/12849/2000940839562273947_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000940839562273947)
During the early nineteenth century, the Supreme Court was repeatedly called in to referee the power struggle between the states and the Federal government. 183 years ago on this day in 1824 (a full 36 years before the Civil War,) the Court handed down yet another ruling in a case that pitted Federalists against states' rights advocates.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/11873/2000972706732526911_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000972706732526911)
The case in question was Gibbons v. Ogden, which stemmed from the New York state government's decision in the late 1780s to hand Robert Fulton (of steamboat invention fame) and Robert Livingston a monopoly on steamboat navigation on NY state waterways.
Fulton and Livingston later sold their steamboat concern to Aaron Ogden, who soon discovered that, despite the state sanctioned monopoly, he had competition, in the person of fellow steamboat impresario Thomas Gibbons, for New York's waters.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/12524/2000981758126412182_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000981758126412182)
Robert Fulton, steamboat inventor and holder of a NY monopoly on steamboat operations
Ogden promptly sued Gibbons; in 1820, the New York Court of Chancery affirmed Ogden's monopoly holding the NY law license trumped Gibbons' federal license on NY waters.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/12313/2000912656656765064_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000912656656765064)
However, Gibbons, who held that his Federal trade license granted him rights to operate in New York's waters, refused to be defeated and took his case to the Supreme Court. The Court ultimately ruled in favor of Gibbons, a decision which effectively protected and affirmed the Federal government's power as the sole regulator of interstate trade.
". . . Few things were better known, than the immediate causes which led to the adoption of the present constitution . . . that the prevailing motive was to regulate commerce; to rescue it from the embarrassing and destructive consequences, resulting from the legislation of so many different States, and to place it under the protection of a uniform law."
— Chief Justice John Marshall
Thus, even way back in 1824, "Federalism": 1/"States Rights": 0
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/12976/2000961524042241880_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000961524042241880)
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/12849/2000940839562273947_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000940839562273947)