Editing Gibbons v. Ogden (section)

==Background==
In 1798, the [[New York State Legislature]] granted to [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert R. Livingston]] and [[Robert Fulton]] exclusive navigation privileges of all the waters within the jurisdiction of that state with boats moved by fire or steam for a term of 20 years. Livingston and Fulton subsequently also petitioned other states and territorial legislatures for similar monopolies in the hope of developing a national network of steamboat lines, but only the [[Orleans Territory]] accepted their petition; it awarded them a monopoly on the lower [[Mississippi River]].<ref name="LrgFedDams">David P. Billington, Donald C. Jackson, Martin V. Melosi, [http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/dams/federal_dams.pdf The History of Large Federal Dams: Planning, Design, and Construction in the Era of Big Dams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120913055825/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/dams/federal_dams.pdf |date=September 13, 2012 }}, pp 13–14, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado, 2005</ref>

Aware of the potential of the new steamboat navigation, competitors challenged Livingston and Fulton by arguing that the commerce power of the federal government was exclusive and superseded state laws. Legal challenges followed, and in response, the monopoly attempted to undercut its rivals by selling them franchises or buying their boats. Former New Jersey Governor [[Aaron Ogden]] had tried to defy the monopoly but ultimately purchased a license from a Livingston and Fulton assignee in 1815 and entered business with [[Thomas Gibbons (politician)|Thomas Gibbons]] from Georgia. The partnership collapsed three years later, however, when Gibbons operated another steamboat on Ogden's route between [[Elizabethtown, New Jersey|Elizabeth-town, New Jersey]] (now Elizabeth), and New York City, which had been licensed by the [[US Congress]] under a 1793 law regulating the [[short sea shipping|coasting trade]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=428|title=A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875|work=loc.gov}}</ref> The partners ended up in the [[New York Court for the Trial of Impeachments]], which granted a permanent injunction against Gibbons in 1820.<ref name="LrgFedDams"/>