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26 survey of founding-era usage confirms that the term “Commerce,” when describing relations with Indians, took on a broader meaning than simple economic exchange. See Ablavsky 2015, at 1012–1032 (compiling primary sources); Brief for Gregory Ablavsky as Amicus Curiae 8–11; App. to id., at 1–18 (same); see also A. Amar, America’s Constitution: A Biography 107 (2005). Instead, the word was used as a “term of art,” Pearl 322, to encompass all manner of “bilateral relations with the [T]ribes,” Clinton 1995, at 1145; see also Toler 422 (noting that “Indian commerce” was a “legal ter[m] of art” that was “informed by the practicalities of Indian affairs”).

This special usage likely emerged out of an international-law idea widely shared “at the time of the founding”: When dealing with a foreign sovereign, the “commercial and noncommercial aspects” of bilateral interactions were “inevitably intertwined” because any intercourse carried potential diplomatic consequences and could even lead to war. J. Balkin, Commerce, 109 Mich. L. Rev. 1, 25 (2010) (Balkin); see also Ablavsky 2015, at 1028–1032 (demonstrating that “trade with the Indians was understood almost solely through this political and diplomatic lens”); Clinton 1989, at 362–363 (observing that, at the founding, Indian “trade” was “intertwined” with concerns of “peace and diplomacy” and with the threat of “war”). Nor was that a speculative possibility when it came to Tribes. As we have seen, even the noncommercial conduct of settlers in the early years was a “continual source of violent conflict [with] Indians,” partially motivating the move away from the Articles of Confederation framework. M. Fletcher & L. Jurss, Tribal Jurisdiction—A Historical Bargain, 76 Md. L. Rev. 593, 597 (2017); see also Ablavsky 2014, at 1033–1038.

At least two terms in the Commerce Clause confirm this special usage. For one thing, the Constitution speaks of “Commerce … among” when discussing interstate dealings, but “Commerce with” when addressing dealings with