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	Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

New Jersey steamboat operator Aaron Ogden, formerly a U.S. Senator and Governor of New Jersey, was licensed to operate a ferry between New York City and Elizabeth Point in New Jersey. Thomas Gibbons was operating a competing ferry service which had been licensed by Congress. The State of New York gave Ogden an injunction against Gibbons to keep him out of New York waters, maintaining that navigation was a distinct form of commerce not covered by the Constitution, and was thus a legitimate area of state regulation. Gibbons then sued for entry into the state, claiming that ferry service between the states of New York and New Jersey constitutes interstate commerce and could be regulated by Congress.


	Did the State of New York exercise authority in a realm reserved exclusively to Congress, namely, the regulation of interstate commerce?



		US Supreme Court Justice John Marshall


		The Court found that New York's licensing requirement for out-of-state operators was inconsistent with a congressional act regulating coastal trade. The New York law was invalid by virtue of the Supremacy Clause. In his opinion, Chief Justice Marshall developed a clear definition of the word commerce, which included navigation on interstate waterways. It also stopped New York State from creating a monopoly of steamboat operation.



		Marshall's was one of the earliest and most influential opinions concerning the important Commerce Clause, defining commerce “among states” as “intermingled with. … Commerce among the States, cannot stop at the external boundary line of each State, but may be introduced into the interior.” For a full summary of this case, go to: http://www.oyez.org/cases/1792-1850/1824/1824_0/

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History