Interstate Commerce & The Constitution: BRI’s AP U.S. History Exam Study Guide

0:00 [Music] when the United States separated from Britain during the Revolutionary War the first national government was established under the Articles of

0:22 Confederation the Articles created a minimal national government that had little ability to bend the will of the states toward the national interest this limitation of federal Authority became apparent when several states in the new nation became involved in trade disputes in the Years prior to the passage of the constitution in

0:42 1789 States routinely passed tariffs on each other if a merchant in one state brought a good across a state border the merchandise was subject to a tax collectible by a customs agent tariffs caused ill will among the states as trade Wars developed meanwhile the National Congress was unable to get all the states to agree to a standard tariff

1:04 on imported goods to raise tax revenue and government was deeply in debt from the Revolutionary War and needed the revenue the national government under the Articles could not do anything about these problems leaders became concerned that the tension could undo the union just before the Constitutional Convention met in 1787 James Madison

1:24 wrote a pamphlet called The Vices of the political system in that essay he wrote that quote the practice of many states in restricting commercial intercourse with other states and putting their Productions in manufacturers on the same footing as with foreign Nations though not contrary to the Federal articles is certainly averse to the spirit of the

1:45 union and tends to beget retaliating regulations they are destructive of the general Harmony this was one of the reasons some Founders supported a new federal government that would replace the articles of confed fation and so it came to pass that the constitution was ratified in 1789 now one of the most significant new

2:07 powers of the federal government under the Constitution was the power of congress to regulate trade as outlined in Article 1 Section 8 of The Constitution the document specified that Congress had the power to quote regulate commerce with foreign Nations and among the several States and with the Indian tribes furthermore Congress but not the

2:28 States was also authorized to Levy quote taxes duties imposts and excises upon the ratification of the Constitution states could no longer regulate trade among themselves only Congress now had that Authority but even here the power was limited in that federal taxes had to be uniform across

2:49 all the States Congress retained sole authority to regulate trade with other nations nonetheless in future eras including today the Commerce Clause is used to justify almost any Congressional regulation of the economy and many congressional laws this appears to be at variance with a narrow and defined purpose of the Commerce Clause in

3:10 Article 1 Section 8 at the time it was written its purpose was to end State tariffs and duties to prevent in concert with other articles in the Constitution Congress from discriminating against trade from any particular State and to give Congress the sole power of imposing taxes on foreign Goods the development of the vast administ ministrative and

3:30 Regulatory state in the 20th and now the 21st centuries came because Congress and the courts felt that the Commerce Clause of Article 1 Section 8 of The Constitution could be interpreted much more broadly than it initially was in the 1780s and 1790s [Music]