68
Opinion of the Court
this historical record to decide this issue. Our own cases recognize that the scope of Maryland's sovereignty over the River was in dispute both before and after the 1785 Compact. Morris, upon which Maryland relies, does not support her argument. Therein, we observed that "[o]wing to the conflicting descriptions, as respected the Potomac River, contained in [the] royal grants, a controversy early arose between Virginia and Maryland." 174 U. S., at 224. While the 1785 Compact resolved certain jurisdictional issues, it did not determine the boundary between the States. Ibid. Accordingly, the controversy over sovereignty was "still continuing . . . in 1874." Ibid. In Marine Railway, we likewise acknowledged that even after the 1785 Compact, "the question of boundary" was left "open to long continued disputes." 257 U. S., at 64. See also Rhode Island, 12 Pet., at 723 ("Maryland and Virginia were contending about boundaries in 1835 . . . and the dispute is yet an open one [in 1838]"). Morris did ultimately decide that Maryland's 1632 charter included the Potomac River from shore to shore, 174 U. S., at 225, but this conclusion, reached in 1899, hardly negates our statements in that and other cases recognizing that the dispute over the interstate boundary continued well into the 19th century.
The mere existence of the 1785 Compact further belies Maryland's argument. After all, the 1785 Compact sought "to regulate and settle the jurisdiction and navigation" of the River. 1785-1786 Md. Laws ch. 1 (preamble). This endeavor would hardly have been required if, as Maryland claims, her well-settled sovereignty gave her exclusive authority to regulate all activity on the River.6 Nowhere is this more clear than with respect to the Article Seventh right of Virginia citizens to build improvements from the Virginia shore. In 1776, Virginia had purported to reserve
6 For example, if Maryland had well-settled exclusive jurisdiction over the River, it certainly would not have agreed to joint regulation of fishing as it did in Article Eighth of the 1785 Compact.
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