The first serious attempts to regulate the railroads were made by the various states. Nothing was more natural, for many of the states had assisted financially in the building of railroads and all of the raihoads operated under state charters. The chief thing the state tried to do was to regulate freight and passenger rates. The railroads on their part very generally resisted regulation: by testing the constitutionality of the various railroad laws, by bringing pressure on legislatures to repeal obnoxious laws, and by politely refusing to comply with the laws. Such actions merely hastened the day of effective railroad legislation, for they showed as nothing else could that the railroads, if allowed to carry out their policies, would place themselves above the law and the public. Unfortunately, many of the people, like the railroads, unwilling to allow the laws to take their course took matters in their own hands. They even went to the point at times of compelling individual train crews to collect rates and operate trains contrary to instructions from the managers. In the end some of the states established control over the lines within their boundaries; but the control was only nominal, since they had no authority to say how interstate trade should be conducted, that being a power expressly delegated to the national government by the Constitution of the United States.