In the early nineteenth century, new inventions were beginning to transform all aspects of American life, including commerce and travel. These new technologies and situations inevitably led to new legal questions for the Supreme Court to resolve.
Before the early 1800s, travel on rivers depended on just two kinds of power: the river's currents and human or horse power. Going with the current was easy; going against it was impossible. Crossing a river usually required a pulley system, powered by people or horses, to pull a raft across to the other side. But inventors already had developed steam engines for use in textile mills, and it wasn't long before this technology began to revolutionize river transportation, too.
View the slideshow below to see how steam power changed the way people traveled on rivers and ultimately led to a dispute in the Supreme Court.
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Robert Fulton In 1807, engineer Robert Fulton unveiled his latest creation: the North River Steamboat of Clermont, or just the Clermont. This steam-powered boat made it possible to sail against a river's currents. On August 17, 1807, Fulton's Clermont left New York City and traveled up the Hudson River for Albany. Thirty-two and a half hours later, it reached its destination and forever changed river transportation.
Aaron Ogden and Thomas Gibbons Impressed with Robert Fulton's achievement, the state of New York gave him a monopoly over steamboat travel between New York and New Jersey. When Fulton died, this monopoly passed to Aaron Ogden. Meanwhile, Thomas Gibbons had been given permission by Congress to operate a competing steamboat business between New York and New Jersey.
The Lower Courts Aaron Ogden sued Thomas Gibbons in a New York court in an effort to shut down his steamboat business. Ogden argued that New York had given him a monopoly that protected him from competition. The New York court agreed with Ogden and ordered Gibbons to close his steamboat business. Gibbons went to the New York Supreme Court, asking them to lift the order. But the New York Supreme Court affirmed the order, so Gibbons appealed this decision to the United States Supreme Court.
The Commerce Clause The entire case revolved around the commerce clause, which gives Congress the power to regulate "commerce…among the several states…." Did this clause empower Congress to give Thomas Gibbons permission to operate a steamboat business between New York and New Jersey? John Marshall and the Supreme Court answered "yes," and in the process they expanded the meaning of interstate commerce to include navigation on rivers. |
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![By Daniel Case (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://s3.amazonaws.com/cms.accelerate-ed.com/image/afe0e7fe-0bb9-43a6-bc20-4ca711dfb67b.jpg)
Question
What was the significance of the Supreme Court's ruling in Gibbons v. Ogden?
