Signing this document was dangerous. To sign the Declaration of Independence meant that the signers were living on borrowed time. But, freedom meant sacrifice, even the sacrifice of their lives. So, even with the threat of death hanging over their heads, they signed this marvelous and bold document. They were now “marked men.”
What these men had done was considered as “high treason” by the king. “The penalty for high treason was: To be hanged by the head until unconscious. Then cut down and revived. Then disembowled and beheaded.
The Gibbons v. Ogden case is a 1824 precedent of the United States Supreme Court, that gave Congress the control of interstate commerce.
Under a state law, New York State had granted Livingston and Fulton exclusive rights to use and navigate all waterways in the state. Gibbons arbitrarily initiated a passenger transport business between New York State and New Jersey, and Ogden sued Gibbons in violation of his exclusive business right.
Gibbons operated a steamer that ran between New York State and New Jersey State. Because of this, the restrictive regulations imposed by the State of New York were harmful to him. He argued then that it was a power of the Congress to control trade when several states were involved, so the decision of the State of New York went against this precept. The Supreme Court established that, indeed, it was the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce and that the law of the State of New York was in violation of federal antitrust laws that prohibited monopoly.
<span>The law and the robberies are only correlated by the fact they both involve banks. </span>
The election of Lincoln led to the secession of several states in the South, and the Civil War soon began, with the Battle of Fort Sumter. The election was the first of six consecutive victories for the Republican Party.
