No Duties on Imports or Exports

                    The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article I, Section 10, Clause 2:  "No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws…."  This clause means that Congress has the authority and responsibility to prevent any individual state or group of states to disrupt the market system by imposing imports or exports.

                    "Shortly after the Revolutionary War, the states almost disunited over the arbitrary and exorbitant duties on imports and exports.  The Founders were firmly determined to eliminate this source of contention between the states" (W. Cleon Skousen in The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 501).