"Propelled by the Agency of Fire." - John Marshall

Todays class was just as interesting as the day before. We discussed a couple more new cases. The first was Missouri v. Holland. This involved Missouri's attempt to remove a US-Britain treaty so that the state could issue hunting licensees for migratory birds. In the end the Supreme Court ruled that the treaty could not be removed and that it was constitutional. Missouri tried to argue that because, in flying over the state, the birds were technically in their possession so they had full rights to shoot them. The court claimed that possession leads to ownership, and the state could not possibly own birds that migrate across the country to Canada every year. I thought this case was particularly interesting, even though it was such an obscure topic. 

The second case we discussed was the more well known Gibbons v. Ogden. In this case the state of New York granted a full monopoly to Ogden's steamboat company to run ferrys from New York to New Jersey. When another man, Gibbons, was discovered running his own ferry on the same path as Ogden, Ogden took him to court. The New York district court ruled in Ogden's favor, so Gibbons appealed. The case was eventually brought before the Supreme Court where Chief Justice John Marshall gave the final opinion. Marshall first looked at the governments right to regulate commerce "among the states" as granted in the Constitution. He decided that "among" means intermingled with, so any trade based on the borders that extend to multiple states immediately comes under federal jurisdiction. Marshall also declared that, since the conflict between Gibbons and Ogden was based around their rights to navigate their boats in the same place, and navigation falls under the term commerce, the conflict they were having was not for the states to decide. The Court claimed that when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution they knew full well that in order for there to be commerce there must be navigation. Finally Marshall declared that since New York's law giving a monopoly to Ogden was in conflict with the federal governments power to regulate interstate commerce, it must be unconstitutional. Using a different method of interpretation of the Constitution, Marshall was still able to increase the power of the federal government as he so often famously did. One thing to note from this case was how long it was. So many of Marshall's opinions are long and drawn out. While this does not take away from how fascinating they are, there are a lot of times when Emily and I wonder why he did not just say, "uses an engine," instead of saying, "being propelled by the agency of fire."

In the afternoon we had a quiz. The quiz was relatively easy for me, as Luke told us it would be. Most of the questions required a basic understanding of the cases and topics we have discussed, and I got the two extra credit questions correct (name the three writers of the federalist papers and name the 9 current Supreme Court Justices). After the quiz was over we played a round of Constitutional jeopardy which brought out the darker sides in all of us. A lot of yelling, screaming, and appealing to our substitute to give the points to a different team was all going on at once. It was still a fun game even though my team was left with 0 points after the final jeopardy question. This class is one of the most fascinating and interesting classes I have ever been in. I know I will be so prepared for AP Government next year and I am so excited to return home and impress people with all my newfound knowledge!