<P> The significance of the Commerce Clause is described in the Supreme Court's opinion in Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005): </P> <P> The Commerce Clause emerged as the Framers' response to the central problem giving rise to the Constitution itself: the absence of any federal commerce power under the Articles of Confederation . For the first century of our history, the primary use of the Clause was to preclude the kind of discriminatory state legislation that had once been permissible . Then, in response to rapid industrial development and an increasingly interdependent national economy, Congress "ushered in a new era of federal regulation under the commerce power," beginning with the enactment of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 and the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 . </P> <P> The Commerce Clause represents one of the most fundamental powers delegated to the Congress by the founders . The outer limits of the Interstate Commerce Clause power have been the subject of long, intense political controversy . Interpretation of the sixteen words of the Commerce Clause has helped define the balance of power between the federal government and the states and the balance of power between the two elected branches of the federal government and the Judiciary . As such, it directly affects the lives of American citizens . </P> <P> The commerce clause provides comprehensive powers to the United States over navigable waters . These powers are critical to understanding the rights of landowners adjoining or exercising what would otherwise be riparian rights under the common law . The Commerce Clause confers a unique position upon the Government in connection with navigable waters . "The power to regulate commerce comprehends the control for that purpose, and to the extent necessary, of all the navigable waters of the United States...For this purpose they are the public property of the nation, and subject to all the requisite legislation by Congress ." United States v. Rands, 389 U.S. 121 (1967). The Rands decision continues: </P>

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