CLEP US Government

Answer: D- The supreme court case Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) was important because it gave a broad definition to the Commerce Clause. Interpreting the Commerce Clause broadly was of major importance in federalism. One of the powers the Constitution grants Congress in Article I, Section 8 is to “regulate interstate commerce”. The Supreme Court, utilizing the necessary and proper clause, declared that Congress had the power to regulate anything that might cross state lines. In one example, there was a breed of frog located in the middle of the state of Pennsylvania that did not exist anywhere else in the world (that we know of). The courts declared the federal government could regulate treatment of that frog because the frog might jump onto a car and cross state lines.