Interstate Commerce Commission

(noun)

A regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 with the purpose of regulating railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including interstate bus lines and telephone companies.

Related Terms

Examples of Interstate Commerce Commission in the following topics:

  • The Square Deal

    • Instead, the Interstate Commerce Commission would control the prices that railroads could charge.
    • The Hepburn Act authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to set maximum railroad rates and to stop the practice of giving out free passes to friends of the railway interests.
    • In addition, the Interstate Commerce Commission could examine the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by standardized booking systems.
    • For any railroad that resisted, the Interstate Commerce Commission's conditions would be in effect until a legal decision of a court was issued.
    • Through the Hepburn Act, the Interstate Commerce Commission's authority was extended to bridges, terminals, ferries, sleeping cars, express companies, and oil pipelines.

  • From Competition to Consolidation

    • But, over time, many state railroad laws were struck down because they interfered with interstate commerce, which only Congress may regulate constitutionally.
    • The consequence was federal legislation: the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 established the first federal administrative agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission.

  • The Republican Era

    • Coolidge left the administration's industrial policy in the hands of his activist Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, who energetically used government auspices to promote business efficiency and develop airlines and radio.
    • With the exception of favoring increased tariffs, Coolidge disdained regulation, and carried on this belief by appointing commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction.
    • The Republicans retained the White House in 1928 in the person of Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover.
    • Even so, Coolidge had no desire to split the party by publicly opposing the popular commerce secretary's nomination.

  • Roosevelt's Progressivism

    • The Hepburn Act of 1906 gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and auditing power over the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by standardized booking systems.
    • Furthermore, to raise the visibility of labor and management issues, Roosevelt established a new federal Department of Commerce and Labor.

  • Cleveland and the Special Interests

    • In 1887, he signed an act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission.

  • Regulation

    • Congress enacted a law regulating railroads in 1887 (the Interstate Commerce Act), and one preventing large firms from controlling a single industry in 1890 (the Sherman Antitrust Act).
    • Many of today's U.S. regulatory agencies, including the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, were created during these years

  • The Scurrilous Campaign

    • In 1887, he signed an act creating the Interstate Commerce Commission.

  • Sit-Ins and Freedom Rides

    • In September of 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) issued new policies that went into effect on November 1.

  • Gibbons v. Ogden

    • Ogden was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court granted Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.
    • Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 (1824), was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.
    • He stressed that one must question whether or not a particular commerce has wide-ranging effects, suggesting that commerce that does "affect other states" may be interstate commerce, even if it does not cross state lines.
    • Supreme Court had to interpret the language of the Commerce Clause, and determine whether or not the law regulated "commerce" that was "among the several states. " The Court held that "commerce" constitutes more than mere traffic, rather, that it includes the trade of commodities, and therefore intercourse.
    • This marked the beginning of a 40-year period during which the Supreme Court limited the federal government's ability to regulate under the Interstate Commerce Clause.

  • Oregon and the Overland Trails

    • The Oregon and Overland Trails were two principal routes that moved people and commerce from the east to the west in the 19th century.
    • Today, modern highways such as Interstate 80 follow the same course westward and pass through towns originally established to service the Oregon Trail.