Commercial Clause

Under the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. population was growing while the exports to Great Britain were stagnant. (Doc B) Since the United States could not come up with a trade treaty, Great Britain was restricting trade. This occurred because the congress did not hold power in regulating commerce. Furthermore, Great Britain did not respect the territories. As John Jay expressed to the U.S. Minister to inform Great Britain, restrictions on trade were to be loosened and borders respected.

Trade was a huge issue in America during this time. The Southern states which relied on tobacco and cotton plantations ran by slaves feared that the federal government would one day choose to ban slavery rendering their means of making money obsolete. Not only that, but the south also feared taxes on their exports. This led to the southern states wanting state regulation of trade rather than having federal trade. The Northern states at this point had

This problem was further worsened by the inability of the government to enforce taxes. Rhode Island’s letter to Congress clearly depicts the absence of federal control over state legislatures, as Rhode Island “[rejected] the recommendation of Congress, respecting an impost on imported goods” (doc A). Because each state retained its sovereignty, they could easily accept or reject the demands of Congress. This lack of federal power substantially restrained the government in carrying out its

Constitution allows the central government with control over issues of national concern, while the state governments, for the most part, have ward over issues of residential concern. While the central government can authorize laws representing the whole nation, its forces are identified, or restricted; it just has the particular forces allocated to it in the Constitution. For instance, "Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gifts Congress the ability to demand assessments, mint cash, announce war, set up post workplaces, and rebuff thefts on the high oceans. Any activity by the government must can be categorized as one of the forces counted in the Constitution." For instance, "the central government can control interstate trade compliant with the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, however has no energy to direct business that happens just inside of a solitary

In addition, as Virginia, and its Neighboring states have omnipresent farmland from which are harvested most of Disunia’s agricultural goods, by removing the tax their interstate trading will be increased, and states in the north with a surplus of manufactured items which the middle states need but cannot access because of their inability to pass the Chesapeake Bay without tax, will have further trade opportunities, therefore increasing their pecuniary standing in the confederation. In addition, this law will balance out state treasuries, and make it possible for states with smaller amounts of money in the state treasury such as Rhode Island, Delaware, and Connecticut, to trade without putting additional and unnecessary monetary stress on them. Lastly, this will give states that aren’t in a prime location regarding harbors for trade, equal opportunities to use the harbors of states on harbors and

They argued that the said tariff was inequitable and unfair to states like Rhode Island, whose economy relies solely on their imports and exports. Versus states like Virginia who had many resources like cash crops, in addition to their trade systems. Under the Article of Confederation in order for the taxation to be imposed there had to be an unanimous agreement between all of the states. Rhode Island's rejection render the Government powerless to enforce the taxation. The Government’s inability to collect taxes paralyzed their ability to pay their employees and creditors as evidenced by Document C, the letter from Joseph Jones to George Washington.This inability to fund the military came at a poor time because the war was just coming to an end in 1783. In document B, the economy is depicted to be going nowhere, while the population is growing. The purpose of this document however, is not to compare commerce to population. It is to show that under The Articles, the lack of a central currency and federal power to regulate trade, was causing the unions commerce to fail. In a letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson in 1786, he details the economic problems caused by congresses limited power to regulate trade. “The states are everyday giving proofs that separate regulations are more likely to set them by the ears then to take them by the ears. When Massachusetts set on foot a retaliation of the policy of Great Britain, Connecticut declared their ports free. A miscarriage of this attempt to unite the states in some effectual plan will have another effect of a serious nature,” (Edmonson 1). Here we see a disorganization between states, and a completely absent sense of central order that was

Narrow construction is not found in the Constitution, but the powers granted to Congress to regulate commerce are found. Exactly stated, "Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes." This clause has no definite interpretation, but has included many aspects of regulating. The word "commerce" is defined as the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place (Webster 264). Congress has exercised this delegated power in many cases. The nature and basic guidelines of Congress' power over commerce is first laid out in the case of Gibbons v. Ogden. In addition, the case United States v. Lopez is a

During the nineteenth century, sectionalism has made the nation grow with differences between states. Between 1812 and 1832, the federal government has enforced laws trying to increase the nationalism between the states. Contrastingly, the increased sectionalism between the states caused many concerns with the regions. Sectional problems from states, cannot always be taken into consideration by the federal government. Although, sectional concerns should outweigh national commands when there is a complication between social classes, unconstitutionality in law enforcement, or when there is a chance that the nation’s unity will disperse.

Since congress couldn not regulate trade between the states, this lead to states charging other states to use their ports. States could trade with other states but it was chaos because some states had their own schedule, some imported and exported at different times . States could not trade with foreign countries nor with the Native Americans. The Constitution saw this as a flaw , to fixed this flaw by changing it to the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause allows the congress and trade with foreign countries.the states are free to do trade with anyone as long as the congress allows it and follows the

The Commerce Clause is an enumerated power listed in the Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, and Clause 3. The Clause states that the United States Congress shall power, “To regulate Commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” The Commerce Clause represents one of the most fundamental powers delegated to Congress. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Lopez and reversed his conviction, holding that, “Section 922, in the full reach of its terms, is invalid as beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause” (Source 1.)

This law forced the railroads to report to the federal government before making important decisions like how much to charge customers. The railroad companies were outraged and used the defense that their monopolies were almost automatically formed, but there was nothing they could do since the law was federal. (Moritz 19-24, 28)

The workings of the marketplace had been designed by a benevolent providence, just like those of eighteenth-century celestial mechanics. The “invisible hand” would direct all for the best if only men would leave it to do its work” (Howe, Why the Scottish Enlightenment Was Useful to the Framers of the American Constitution at 578, citing Smith, The Wealth of Nations). Federalist 10 states, “The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government”, and Federalist 11 reads, “An unrestrained intercourse between the States themselves will advance the trade of each by an interchange of their respective productions”. The ideas of a nation in which economic interests were pursued with minor government intervention were shared among Smith and Madison. However, not all Scottish ideas on existing institutions reached parity in the United States.

This lowered the tariff gradually over a decade and prevented any armed conflicts.”(.loc.gov) This shows the strength of the federal government over all the states.

Interstate commerce, in U.S. constitutional law, any commercial transactions or traffic that cross state boundaries or that involve more than one state. The court decided that a business, although operating within a single state, could affect interstate commerce with its restrictive laws and was, therefore, at odds with the federal legislation that proved to be enabling of the Constitution’s commerce clause.

Although the section states that all the agreements in restraint of any profession, trade or business are void, the current trend as per various judicial pronouncements leads to the conclusion that reasonable restraint is permitted and does not turn into the contract void ab initio i.e. void from the beginning. Equanimity of restraint depends upon various factors, and the restraint in order to prevent denial of trade , secrets or business connections has to be reasonable in the interest of the parties to ensure adequate protection to the covenantee. The above section implies that to be valid an agreement in restraint of trade must be reasonable as between the parties and consistent with the interest of the