The Commerce Clause
Defining Commerce
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
22 U.S. 1 (1824)
Decision: Reversed
Vote: 8-0
Majority: Marshall, joined by Washington, Todd, Duvall, and Story
Concurrence: Johnson
Not participating: Thompson
Syllabus
The laws of New York granting to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton the exclusive right of navigating the waters of that State with steamboats are in collision with the acts of Congress regulating the coasting trade, which, being made in pursuance of the Constitution, are supreme, and the State laws must yield to that supremacy, even though enacted in pursuance of powers acknowledged to remain in the States.
Mr. Chief Justice MARSHALL delivered the opinion of the Court …
The appellant contends that this decree is erroneous, because the laws which purport to give the exclusive privilege it sustains, are repugnant to the constitution and laws of the United States.
They are said to be repugnant:
1st. To that clause in the constitution which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce.
2d. To that which authorizes Congress to promote the progress of science and useful arts.
The State of New York maintains the constitutionality of these laws, and their Legislature, their Council of Revision, and their Judges, have repeatedly concurred in this opinion … No tribunal can approach the decision of this question, without feeling a just and real respect for that opinion which is sustained by such authority, but it is the province of this Court … not to bow to it implicitly, and the Judges must exercise, in the examination of the subject, that understanding which Providence has bestowed upon them …
This instrument [the constitution] contains an enumeration of powers expressly granted by the people to their government. It has been said that these powers ought to be construed strictly. But why ought they to be so construed? Is there one sentence in the constitution which gives countenance to this rule? In the last of the enumerated powers, that which grants, expressly, the means for carrying all others into execution, Congress is authorized “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for the purpose. But this limitation on the means which may be used, is not extended to the powers which are conferred, nor is there one sentence in the constitution which has been pointed out by the gentlemen of the bar or which we have been able to discern that prescribes this rule. We do not, therefore, think ourselves justified in adopting it … If they contend only against that enlarged construction, which would intend words beyond their natural and obvious import, we might question the application of the term, but should not controvert the principle. If they contend for that narrow construction which, in support of some theory not to be found in the construction would deny to the government those powers which the words of the Granted usually understood, import, and which are consistent with the general views and objects of the instrument