This ruling in large part ended considerable divisiveness regarding transportation improvements between those supporting Federalism versus States rights advocates.
Many of these improvements were driven by the rapid growth in the use of steamboats on inland waters and the great commercial success of the Erie Canal, financed solely by the state of New York.
The act includes that the Secretary of War is (hereby) authorized and empowered to grant leases or licenses for the use of the water powers on the Muskingum River at such rate and on such conditions and for such periods of time as may seem to him just, equitable, and expedient.
All moneys received under such leases or licenses shall be turned into the Treasury of the United States, and the itemized statement shall accompany the annual report of the Chief of Engineers.
[7] Gifford Pinchot observed that, "Under the powers granted or applied in the Constitution of the United States, the federal government has control over navigatable rivers and their tributaries.
Yet for a hundred years after the Constitution was adopted, Congress left the regulation of water power entirely to the states... Federal stream legislation at its beginning had to do chiefly with preventing or removing obstructions to navigation.
With the advent of Edison's DC light bulb the early 1880s, and the later use of AC, with its superior ability to be transmitted great distances, the demand for electricity rose rapidly.
Additional sections address the use or alteration of various public works related to navigation, anchored or sunken vessels, and surveys for improvements to existing harbors.