The United States House Committee on Commerce was a standing committee of the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1819 until 1892; it was established when the previous Committee on Commerce and Manufactures, which has existed since 1795, was split into two different committees. The committee existed until 1891, when its name was changed to the

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more tha ...

. Its issues and jurisdictions have variably flowed through several iterations and currently rest within the

United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more tha ...

History and jurisdiction

During this period, the committee's jurisdiction extended to "commerce, Life-Saving Service, and light-houses, other than appropriations for Life-Saving Service and light-houses." In practice, the committee's responsibilities encompassed regulation of both interstate and foreign commerce generally.Records of the Committee on Commerce (1819-1892)) History and Jurisdiction
/ref> With technological advances and over time, federal policy issues and regulation regarding commercial aspects under their jurisdiction also would change; these would be accompanied with many additions and some subtractions. The committee's responsibilities included its traditional customs collection districts, ports of entry, and ports of delivery, and compensation of customhouse officials. The committee exercised jurisdiction over obstructions to harbor navigation, such as sunken vessels, lighthouses and other aids, and matters relating to lifesaving stations and such federal agencies as the Lifesaving Service,

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and the Marine Hospital Service (the predecessor of the

Public Health Service In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

). Starting in 1824,See:

Gibbons v. Ogden ''Gibbons v. Ogden'', 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824), was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce, which was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United Sta ...

and the General Survey Act it added the dangerous obstructions of

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

ine navigation, such as removing sandbars and snags, dredging, lighthouses and other navigation aids; regulations and appropriations regarding navigable rivers and works affecting them, such as cribs, canals and locks, and later bridges, dams, tunnels, pipes, as well as later inter-oceanic canals and ocean cables as they arose. Commercial aspects regarding public health and the prevention of infectious diseases, the purity of food and drugs, regulations regarding the exportation of livestock and foodstuffs, and transportation of livestock also came under the committee's purview. When the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors was established on December 19, 1883, the Committee on Commerce relinquished its jurisdiction over appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors. But when the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was passed, its Interstate Commerce Commission added greatly to the committee's purview and the commercial regulation of railroads.

References

{{Reflist Commerce and Manufactures