Legal Concepts

Commerce Clause

This is the part of the Constitution that says Congress has the power to pass laws about the buying and selling of goods and services between the states.

Landmark Cases Involving Commerce Clause:

A drawing of steamboats entering a harbor with people exiting the lower deck.

Gibbons v. Ogden

Federal Government has Power Over Interstate Commerce
A drawing of the U.S. Bank in Philidelphia with many people scattered across the foreground.

McCulloch v. Maryland

Congress has Implied Powers to Create a National Bank

Learn more about the Commerce Clause in Wex, a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia from Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. 

View All Legal concepts