“In exercising the power of regulating their own purely inte…
“In exercising the power of regulating their own purely internal affairs, whether of trading or police, the states may sometimes enact laws, the validity of which depends on their interference with, and being contrary to, an act of Congress passed in pursuance of the Constitution…. Should this collision exist, it will be immaterial whether those laws were passed in virtue of a concurrent power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, or in virtue of a power to regulate their domestic trade and police…. This court is of opinion that so much of the several laws of the state of New York as prohibits vessels, licensed according to the laws of the United States, from navigating the waters of the state of New York, by means of fire or steam, is repugnant to the said Constitution and void.” — United States Supreme Court, Gibbons v Ogden, 1824 The excerpt best reflects which of the following trends during the early 1800s?