During Jefferson’s administration a serious controversy between the United States and the great State of Pennsylvania as to the national powers of the government came to a crisis. During the revolutionary war the sloop _Active_, bound for New York with a cargo of supplies for the British, was taken from her master by Gideon Olmstead of Connecticut and three men, who had been impressed by the English and put on the vessel to assist in her navigation. An armed brig of Pennsylvania took the _Active_ from Olmstead and his associates and brought her into the port of Philadelphia. The State Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania tried the case by a jury according to the State laws, awarding to Olmstead and his companions only one quarter of the prize money, and distributing the remainder to the State, and those interested in the brig taking the _Active_ and a companion vessel. An appeal was made by Olmstead from the State court to the Continental Congress as the power that had control of the maritime affairs of the revolting colonies. Congress very properly insisted on its jurisdiction over such cases. The Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania, disregarding this right, ordered the sloop and cargo to be sold, and distributed the proceeds; the Continental Congress, not having the power to enforce its rights, let the matter pass. Some years afterwards, when our new government had gone into effect, Olmstead filed his libel before the United States District Court of Pennsylvania and obtained a decision in his favor reversing the decree of the Pennsylvania court. Judge Peters, of the United States District Court, hesitated to enforce this decree against Pennsylvania, wishing to obtain the sanction of the Supreme Court of the United States. A mandamus was issued by the Supreme Court directing its district court to enforce its decree, Chief-Justice Marshall saying that if a State could annul the judgment of a United States Court the Constitution itself became a solemn mockery. “The State of Pennsylvania can possess no constitutional power to resist the legal process which may be directed in this case.”