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Originally Posted by rottweiler
The navigable highways and paths between the same were the highways of their day, Today the roads serve the same function.
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That may be true, But there's no indication that the Northwest Ordinance intended to guarantee as "free forever" paths, much less technologies, that didn't exist in 1787. Were the communities, and then the states, supposed to carve out and build roads, pave them and maintain them, without any sort of monetary return on that enormous responsibility?
Using that sort of logic, since railroads mostly replaced riverboats and then airplanes replaced railroads, all the roads leading to railway stations, or airports, ought to be free. Not just tolls but also parking spaces (bet you didn't think of parking spaces, Rott).
I don't care for either tolls or parking meters, but without them roads wouldn't be built or maintained.
And this doesn't even touch on whether "forever free" means that buses and taxis can't charge a fare to take someone to the docks ... or to the airports.