wer
of Congress is to be exercised by a supervision of State legislation,
and as it is clear that Congress is to give the general rule, I contend
that this power of giving the general rule is transferred, by the
Constitution, from the States to Congress, to be exercised as that body
may see fit; and consequently, that all those high exercises of power,
which might be considered as giving the rule, or establishing the
system, in regard to great commercial interests, are necessarily left
with Congress alone. Of this character I consider monopolies of trade or
navigation; embargoes; the system of navigation laws; the countervailing
laws, as against foreign states; and other important enactments
respecting our connection with such states. It appears to me a most
reasonable construction to say, that in these respects the power of
Congress is exclusive, from the nature of the power. If it be not so,
where is the limit, or who shall fix a boundary for the exercise of the
power of the States? Can a State grant a monopoly of trade? Can New York
shut her ports to all but her own citizens? Can she refuse admission to
ships of particular nations? The argument on the other side is, and must
be, that she might do all these things, until Congress should revoke her
enactments. And this is called _concurrent_ legislation! What confusion
such notions lead to is obvious enough. A power in the States to do any
thing, and every thing, in regard to commerce, till Congress shall undo
it, would suppose a state of things at least as bad as that which
existed before the present Constitution. It is the true wisdom of these
governments to keep their action as distinct as possible. The general
government should not seek to operate where the States can operate with
more advantage to the community; nor should the States encroach on
ground which the public good, as well as the Constitution, refers to the
exclusive control of Congress.

If the present state of things, these laws of New York, the laws of
Connecticut, and the laws of New Jersey, had been all presented, in the
convention of New York, to the eminent person whose name is on this
record, and who acted on that occasion so important a part; if he had
been told, that, after all he had said in favor of the new government,
and of its salutary effects on commercial regulations, the time would
yet come when the North River would be shut up by a monopoly from New
York, the Sound interdicted by a pen