The AmericanInterstate Commerce Act of 1887 created the Interstate Commerce Commissirs of the commission were appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate. This was the first of the so-called Fourth Branch agencies. Its aim was to regulate surface transportation (initially railroads, later trucking), to ensure fair prices and regulate other aspects of the conduct of common carriers. The Interstate Commerce Commission started in trouble, since the ICC was given a mandate to manage Interstate Commerce, but was not authorized to enforce the law. The ICC started as a regulatory body without power, basically.
The Interstate Commerce Commission is often cited as a classic example in which an agency intended to protect consumers is "captured" by the industry that it intended to regulate. The Commission was accused of acting in the interests of the trucking industry by causing prices to be set at artificially high levels and by using regulation to prevent new entrants from competing.
Interstatecommerce, or commerce among the several states, is the free exchange of commodities between citizens of different states across state lines.
Commerce with foreign nations occurs between citizens of the United States and citizens or subjects of foreign governments and, either immediately or at some stage of its progress, is extraterritorial.
Interpreting interstatecommerce to mean "substantial interstate human relations" is consistent with much additional primary source evidence concerning the meaning of commerce at the time of the writing of the Constitution.
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