When Fulton was born in Lancaster County, Penn. in 1775, interstate travel in America remained largely a burdensome and time-consuming business. In 1803, Fulton revolutionized transportation of his times, creating the first successful steam-powered ship. Returning from Europe several years later, where he had originally moved to study painting, Fulton founded the world’s first commercial steamboat service in New York. The birth of steamboat travel on the Hudson River transformed the economy of the new nation, helping make New England its commercial powerhouse. However, Fulton made history again in 1824, when the Supreme Court struck down the monopoly license granted to his business by New York. The landmark Gibbons v. Ogden decision, in which the court ruled that states had no power to regulate interstate commerce — an authority granted to the new Congress, was one of the earliest battles for influence between the states and the federal government, helping fuel the eventual debate over federalism.

*posted September 5-9, 2005