What Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroad v. Illinois 1886m is about?

Question

Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroad v. Illinois 1886 is about??? i got some info on it but mostly just the basic and well the outcome of the case, but i need more please help. Please and thank you ^-^

Answer 1

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois, 118 U.S. 557 (1886) also known as the Wabash Case or 'Adam', was a Supreme Court decision that severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce. It led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

In Wabash, the Court had to decide whether states had the power to regulate railroad rates for interstate shipments. It ruled that the Commerce Clause does not permit states to enact "direct" burdens on interstate commerce (noting, however, that "indirect" burdens were permitted under the Commerce Clause). This was a significant departure from the accepted standard enacted in Cooley v. Board of Wardens (1852).

It should be noted, however, that Wabash did not strip states of all power to regulate interstate railroads. For example, the state safety regulations remained as allowed "indirect" burdens. However, prior to Wabash, the federal government yielded the subject of railroad regulation to the states; Wabash made rate regulation of shipments between states a protected federal power.

Spurred by this decision, Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, the first regulatory agency. Wabash can thus be said to have led to the creation of the modern regulatory agency and signaled the movement of the national government to assume responsibility for economic affairs which was previously delegated to the states.

Effects of decision:

The Wabash decision led to the creation of the first modern regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission.

It clarified the "direct" v. "indirect" test (though this doctrine was abandoned in the 1930s).

It was one of the first instances in government assuming responsibility for economic affairs that had previously been delegated to the states.