Supreme Court Case Study Of Gibbons V. Ogden (1824)

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Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) In 1803, New York State passed a law giving two men the exclusive rights to operate steamboats in New York waters. “ Navigating all boats that that might be propelled by steam, on all waters within the territory, or jurisdiction of the State, for the term of twenty years” (US National Archives & Records Administration n.d.). Later transferring the exclusive license to New Yorker Aaron Ogden. At the same time New Jersey’s own Thomas Gibbons operated a steamboat from New Jersey to New York with a federal license and soon was competing with each other. However, this local dispute of an outdated means of transportation not only defined the commerce powers granted under the Constitution then, but it has lasting social, economic …show more content…

Webster argued the Constitution was design to settle such economic disputes between states. Allowing concurrent laws to conflict would be dangerous and contagious if not handled by the federal government. Attorney Writ supported the federal supremacy over these states was enumerated in the Constitution. Gibbons’ steamboats operated “among several states” (US National Archives & Records Administration n.d.), and the Commerce Clause states, “ Congress shall have the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among several States, and with Indian tribes” (US National Archives & Records Administration n.d.). Gibbons’ steamboats in fact operated in New Jersey and in New York; therefore it aptly applied in this situation. While, New York Attorney’s Thomas Oakley and Thomas Addis Emmet argued for Ogden that the operation was within New York’s borders. Further, they argued that licensing steamboats was within their jurisdiction as a State. New York law permitted the licensing and navigational acts within its border. This was a permissible concurrent power of the States, just like the taxing power was permitted (Cox 2009, 67). So, the licensing was legal and the “among several States” (oyez.org n.d.)was not implacable in this