U.S. Congress

Smith-Connally Act Criminalizes Union Political Contributions, Spawns First PACs

1943-06-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Congress overrides President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s veto to pass the Smith-Connally Act (War Labor Disputes Act), which prohibits unions from making contributions in federal elections and empowers the federal government to seize industries threatened by strikes. The legislation is hurriedly …

Howard W. Smith Tom Connally Franklin D. Roosevelt Congress of Industrial Organizations United Mine Workers +1 more labor-suppression campaign-finance political-action-committees union-busting congressional-action +1 more

Neutrality Act Revised to Allow Arms Sales on Cash-and-Carry Basis, Enabling Corporate War Profits

1939-11-04 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act of 1939 on November 4, repealing the arms embargo provisions of earlier Neutrality Acts and allowing arms sales to belligerent nations on a “cash-and-carry” basis, effectively ending the policy designed to prevent American business …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress arms manufacturers isolationists Britain +1 more war-profiteering neutrality-acts world-war-ii corporate-profits military-industrial-complex

Hatch Act Restricts Federal Workers' Political Activity After Allegations of WPA Election Interference

1939-08-02 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Hatch Act on August 2, 1939, after Senator Carl Hatch (D-NM) introduces legislation prohibiting federal civil service employees from engaging in partisan political activities, following widespread allegations that local Democratic politicians used Works …

Carl Hatch Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress Works Progress Administration federal employees political-activity new-deal civil-service conservative-sabotage wpa

Fair Labor Standards Act Passes Over Fierce Business and Southern Opposition to Minimum Wage and Child Labor Ban

1938-06-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) on June 25, 1938, establishing a federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, a maximum 44-hour workweek, and banning oppressive child labor—but only after more than a year of fierce congressional opposition from business …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Frances Perkins Hugo Black U.S. Congress Southern Democrats +1 more labor-rights minimum-wage child-labor new-deal corporate-resistance

Temporary National Economic Committee Launches Comprehensive Investigation of Monopoly and Economic Concentration

1938-06-16 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Congress authorizes the Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC) on June 16, 1938, launching the most comprehensive investigation of monopoly power and economic concentration in American history. Chaired by Senator Joseph O’Mahoney of Wyoming, the committee conducts three years of hearings …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Joseph O'Mahoney Thurman Arnold U.S. Congress major corporations antitrust monopoly corporate-concentration new-deal congressional-investigation

FDR Warns Congress That Concentrated Corporate Power Threatens American Democracy with Fascism

1938-04-29 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

On April 29, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sends a special message to Congress warning that concentrated corporate power poses an existential threat to American democracy, using language that explicitly links economic monopoly with the rise of fascism. Roosevelt declares that “the …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress concentrated corporate interests corporate-power fascism antitrust new-deal democracy +1 more

Robinson-Patman Act Prohibits Price Discrimination to Protect Small Retailers from Chain Store Power

1936-06-19 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

Congress passed the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), co-sponsored by Senator Joseph T. Robinson (D-AR) and Representative Wright Patman (D-TX), prohibiting anticompetitive price discrimination by producers. The law responded to the growing power of chain stores like the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea …

U.S. Congress Senator Joseph T. Robinson Representative Wright Patman Federal Trade Commission antitrust regulatory-capture price-discrimination corporate-power small-business

Banking Act of 1935 Restructures Federal Reserve, Reduces Wall Street Influence Over Monetary Policy

1935-08-23 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Roosevelt signs the Banking Act of 1935 on August 23, 1935, fundamentally restructuring the Federal Reserve System to centralize monetary policy authority in a reformed Board of Governors in Washington rather than the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which had been dominated by …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Marriner Eccles Carter Glass U.S. Congress Federal Reserve Board +1 more financial-regulation new-deal federal-reserve banking-reform monetary-policy +1 more

Social Security Act Creates Federal Retirement and Unemployment Insurance System Over Business Opposition

1935-08-14 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935, establishing the first comprehensive federal system for old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children and the disabled, creating the foundation of the American social safety net. Labor …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Frances Perkins U.S. Congress American Liberty League National Association of Manufacturers +1 more labor-rights new-deal social-insurance corporate-resistance democratic-reform

Wagner Act Establishes Federal Protection for Union Rights and Collective Bargaining

1935-07-05 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act, known as the Wagner Act after sponsor Senator Robert Wagner (D-NY), establishing federal legal protection for workers’ rights to organize unions, engage in collective bargaining, and strike without employer retaliation. …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Robert Wagner U.S. Congress National Labor Relations Board American workers labor-rights wagner-act nlra new-deal collective-bargaining +1 more

Communications Act of 1934 Creates FCC and Consolidates Federal Media Regulation Under Public Interest Standard

1934-06-19 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Communications Act of 1934 (Chapter 5 of Title 47 U.S. Code), replacing the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and consolidating federal regulation of all interstate and foreign communications including radio, …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Federal Radio Commission media-regulation fcc public-interest-standard new-deal communications-policy +1 more

Gold Reserve Act Nationalizes Gold Holdings and Devalues Dollar Over Wall Street Opposition

1934-01-30 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Roosevelt signs the Gold Reserve Act on January 30, 1934, nationalizing all gold holdings in the United States, transferring ownership of Federal Reserve gold to the U.S. Treasury, and authorizing the President to set the gold value of the dollar between 50 and 60 percent of its previous …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress Federal Reserve Wall Street banking industry +1 more new-deal monetary-policy gold-standard financial-regulation corporate-resistance

National Industrial Recovery Act Creates NRA Blue Eagle Program, Enabling Corporate Self-Regulation

1933-06-16 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Roosevelt signs the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) on June 16, 1933, creating the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to oversee the development of industry-wide “codes of fair competition” establishing minimum wages, maximum hours, collective bargaining rights, and …

Franklin D. Roosevelt Hugh Johnson U.S. Congress National Recovery Administration U.S. Chamber of Commerce +2 more new-deal corporate-capture regulatory-capture labor-rights industrial-policy

Tennessee Valley Authority Created as Public Power Alternative to Private Utility Monopolies

1933-05-18 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act on May 18, 1933, creating a federally-owned corporation to provide electricity, flood control, navigation improvements, and economic development across seven Southern states in the Tennessee River watershed. The TVA represents the most …

Franklin D. Roosevelt George Norris U.S. Congress Tennessee Valley Authority private utility companies +2 more new-deal public-power utility-regulation corporate-resistance regional-development

Civilian Conservation Corps Created as First Federal Youth Employment Program

1933-03-31 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Roosevelt signs the Emergency Conservation Work Act on March 31, 1933, creating the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as a public work relief program providing employment to young men aged 18-25 from unemployed families. The CCC becomes one of the most popular New Deal programs, eventually …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress Robert Fechner U.S. Army Department of Labor new-deal employment conservation youth-programs public-works

Emergency Banking Act Passes in Eight Hours to Stabilize Collapsing Banking System

1933-03-09 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

On March 9, 1933, just five days after Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration and three days after his declaration of a national bank holiday, Congress passes the Emergency Banking Act in a mere eight hours—many members voting without even reading the legislation. The act grants the President …

Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress Federal Reserve William Woodin banking industry new-deal banking-crisis financial-regulation emergency-powers

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act Enacts Corporate Protectionism Despite Economist Warnings

1930-06-17 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Herbert Hoover signs the Tariff Act of 1930, commonly known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act after its congressional sponsors Senator Reed Smoot (R-UT) and Representative Willis C. Hawley (R-OR), raising U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. Hoover had campaigned in …

Herbert Hoover Reed Smoot Willis C. Hawley U.S. Congress manufacturing lobbyists corporate-resistance trade-policy great-depression lobbying protectionism

McFadden Act Perpetuates Banking Fragmentation, Prohibits Interstate Branching

1927-02-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Calvin Coolidge signs the McFadden Act, one of the most contested pieces of banking legislation in U.S. history, which recharters the twelve Federal Reserve District Banks into perpetuity but prohibits interstate branch banking for national banks. Named after Representative Louis Thomas …

Louis Thomas McFadden Calvin Coolidge U.S. Congress Federal Reserve financial-deregulation banking regulatory-capture

Radio Act of 1927 Establishes Public Ownership of Airwaves and "Public Interest" Broadcasting Standard

1927-02-23 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Calvin Coolidge signs the Radio Act of 1927 (Public Law 632, 69th Congress), establishing the foundational principle that radio spectrum frequencies are publicly owned natural resources held in trust by the federal government for the American people. The legislation creates the Federal …

Calvin Coolidge Clarence Dill Wallace H. White Jr. Federal Radio Commission U.S. Congress media-regulation public-airwaves fcc broadcasting public-interest-standard +1 more

Revenue Act of 1926 Slashes Top Tax Rate to 25%, Abolishes Gift Tax in Full Mellon Plan

1926-02-26 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Calvin Coolidge signs the Revenue Act of 1926, the crowning achievement of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s multi-year campaign to restructure federal taxation in favor of the wealthy. The act slashes the top marginal income tax rate from 46 percent to 25 percent on incomes over …

Andrew Mellon Calvin Coolidge U.S. Congress Republican Party tax-policy wealth-concentration institutional-capture mellon-plan

Revenue Act of 1924 Continues Mellon Tax Cuts for Wealthy, Lowers Top Rate to 46%

1924-06-02 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Calvin Coolidge signs the Revenue Act of 1924, the second installment of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s systematic campaign to slash taxes on the wealthy. The act reduces the maximum income tax rate from 58 percent to 46 percent on incomes over $500,000 (raised from the previous …

Andrew Mellon Calvin Coolidge U.S. Congress Republican Party tax-policy wealth-concentration institutional-capture mellon-plan

Immigration Act of 1924 Imposes Racist National Origins Quotas Based on Eugenics

1924-05-26 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Calvin Coolidge signs the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act), establishing the first permanent comprehensive restrictions on immigration in American history through a national origins quota system explicitly designed to preserve white racial dominance. The law reduces annual …

Calvin Coolidge Albert Johnson David Reed Madison Grant Harry Laughlin +1 more immigration-policy racism eugenics xenophobia institutional-capture +1 more

Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Child Labor Tax as Unconstitutional

1922-05-15 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

The Supreme Court rules 8-1 in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (the Child Labor Tax Case) that the Revenue Act of 1919, which imposed a 10 percent excise tax on profits of companies employing children under age 14, violates the Tenth Amendment. Chief Justice William Howard Taft declares the tax …

William Howard Taft U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Congress Drexel Furniture Company judicial-capture labor-suppression corporate-power supreme-court child-labor

Emergency Quota Act Establishes First Numerical Immigration Limits Based on National Origin

1921-05-19 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Warren G. Harding signs the Emergency Quota Act (also called the Emergency Immigration Act or Johnson Quota Act), establishing for the first time numerical limits on immigration to the United States based on national origin. The law restricts annual immigration from any country to 3% of …

Warren G. Harding Albert Johnson U.S. Congress Immigration Restriction League immigration-policy xenophobia institutional-capture labor-suppression nativism

Jones Act Establishes Shipping Protectionism Still Harming Consumers Today

1920-06-05 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Woodrow Wilson signs the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act after its sponsor Senator Wesley Jones of Washington, mandating that all goods shipped between U.S. ports must be transported on ships that are American-built, American-owned, and American-crewed. The law …

Wesley Jones U.S. Congress American Shipping Industry Woodrow Wilson regulatory-capture protectionism corporate-welfare institutional-capture

Farm Crisis Begins as Agricultural Prices Collapse While Debt Remains

1920-06-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

American agriculture enters a decade-long depression beginning in summer 1920 as commodity prices collapse following the end of wartime demand. Wheat prices fall from $2.50 per bushel to under $1.00; cotton drops from 35 cents per pound to 13 cents; corn collapses from $1.50 to 42 cents. Meanwhile, …

Andrew Mellon Federal Reserve Farm Bureau U.S. Congress economic-crisis regulatory-failure rural-america banking agricultural-policy

Sedition Act of 1918 Expands Espionage Act to Criminalize Anti-Government Speech

1918-05-16 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Congress passed the Sedition Act on May 16, 1918, extending the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and expression of opinion that cast the government or war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. The Act forbade the use of …

U.S. Congress President Woodrow Wilson U.S. Postmaster General civil-liberties first-amendment political-repression progressive-era

Wilson Reverses Position and Endorses Women's Suffrage Amendment After Prison Brutality Exposed

1918-01-09 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

On January 9, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced his support for a women’s suffrage constitutional amendment, reversing years of opposition in the face of mounting public outrage over the treatment of suffragist prisoners. Wilson’s reversal came less than two months after the …

Woodrow Wilson Alice Paul National Woman's Party U.S. Congress womens-suffrage presidential-reversal democratic-expansion political-pressure hypocrisy

Adamson Act Establishes Eight-Hour Workday for Railroad Workers

1916-09-03 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Congress passed the Adamson Act on September 2, 1916, and President Woodrow Wilson signed it the following day, establishing a standard eight-hour workday with additional pay for overtime for interstate railroad workers. Named for Georgia Representative William C. Adamson, this was the first federal …

President Woodrow Wilson Representative William C. Adamson Railroad Labor Brotherhoods Austin B. Garretson U.S. Congress labor-rights progressive-era worker-protection regulatory-enforcement

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act Passed, First Federal Child Labor Restriction

1916-09-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Congress passed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act in September 1916, the first federal statute to impose restrictions on child labor. Also known as Wick’s Bill, the law prohibited the sale in interstate commerce of goods produced by factories that employed children under 14, mines that employed …

U.S. Congress President Woodrow Wilson labor-rights child-labor progressive-era regulatory-enforcement

Wilson Signs Federal Trade Commission Act, Creating Expert Antitrust Enforcement Agency

1914-09-26 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission Act into law, establishing the FTC as an independent federal agency to prevent ‘unfair methods of competition’ and protect consumers from deceptive business practices. The Act fulfilled Wilson’s ‘New Freedom’ …

Woodrow Wilson Federal Trade Commission U.S. Congress antitrust regulatory-enforcement federal-trade-commission progressive-era corporate-power

17th Amendment Ratified: Direct Election of Senators Ends State Legislature Appointments and Deadlock Corruption

1913-04-08 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Connecticut became the 36th state to ratify the 17th Amendment, meeting the three-fourths requirement to establish direct election of United States senators by popular vote. The amendment modified Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution, which had required state legislatures to appoint senators. …

Connecticut State Legislature U.S. Congress Progressive Movement progressive-era electoral-reform constitutional-amendment democratic-reform

16th Amendment Ratified: Federal Income Tax Established to Shift Burden from Middle Class to Wealthy

1913-02-03 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

Delaware became the 36th state to ratify the 16th Amendment, meeting the three-fourths requirement to establish Congress’s right to impose a federal income tax. Secretary of State Philander C. Knox certified the amendment on February 25, 1913. The amendment was part of a wave of Progressive …

Delaware State Legislature Philander C. Knox U.S. Congress Progressive Movement progressive-era taxation economic-reform constitutional-amendment

Roosevelt Signs Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act

1906-06-30 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act on June 30, 1906, marking a major achievement in federal regulation of the food industry. The legislation arose from public education and exposés by muckraking journalists like Upton Sinclair and Samuel Hopkins …

Theodore Roosevelt Harvey Washington Wiley Upton Sinclair U.S. Congress regulatory-enforcement public-health consumer-protection progressive-era food-safety

Roosevelt Signs Hepburn Act Creating First True Federal Regulatory Agency

1906-06-29 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

On June 29, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Hepburn Act into law after a month of conference committee reconciliation, with the Senate passing it 71-3 and the House by substantial margin. The Act fundamentally strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission, giving it power to set …

Theodore Roosevelt Representative William Hepburn Interstate Commerce Commission Railroad companies U.S. Congress railroad-regulation regulatory-enforcement progressive-era institutional-expansion corporate-power

Roosevelt Creates Bureau of Corporations and Department of Commerce and Labor

1903-02-14 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

On February 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Act to Establish the Department of Commerce and Labor, creating the ninth cabinet-level executive department and establishing the Bureau of Corporations as an investigatory agency within it. The Bureau was specifically designed to study …

Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Congress George B. Cortelyou James Rudolph Garfield Bureau of Corporations antitrust regulatory-enforcement progressive-era corporate-power institutional-expansion

Anti-Pinkerton Act: Congress Limits Private Armies After Homestead Violence

1893-03-03 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Congress passed the Anti-Pinkerton Act following public outrage over the Homestead Strike massacre, prohibiting the federal government from hiring “an individual employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency, or similar organization.” The legislation addressed “Congressional concern …

U.S. Congress Pinkerton Detective Agency labor-rights legislative-reform corporate-accountability gilded-age

Sherman Antitrust Act Passed but Designed for Non-Enforcement Against Monopolies

1890-07-02 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

On July 2, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed the Sherman Antitrust Act into law after it passed the Senate 51-1 (April 8) and the House 242-0 (June 20), creating America’s first federal anti-monopoly legislation—but the law was deliberately vague, weakly worded, and systematically …

Senator John Sherman President Benjamin Harrison U.S. Congress antitrust regulatory-failure political-theater gilded-age corporate-power

Dawes Allotment Act Destroys Tribal Land Ownership, Facilitating Loss of 90 Million Acres to White Settlers

1887-02-08 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes General Allotment Act (also called the Dawes Severalty Act), authorizing the President to subdivide Native American tribal communal landholdings into individual allotments for Native American heads of families and individuals. The Act represents a …

Senator Henry L. Dawes U.S. Congress President Grover Cleveland Bureau of Indian Affairs Five Civilized Tribes indigenous-genocide land-theft forced-assimilation tribal-sovereignty institutional-corruption

Interstate Commerce Act: First Federal Regulatory Response to Corporate Monopoly

1887-02-04 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

On February 4, 1887, President Grover Cleveland approved the Interstate Commerce Act, creating the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee railroad industry conduct. This landmark legislation made railroads the first industry subject to federal regulation in American history, responding to …

U.S. Congress Interstate Commerce Commission Granger Movement Railroad Industry Farmers Alliance regulatory-framework democratic-resistance institutional-accountability corporate-regulation

Cleveland Election Marks Shift Toward Corporate Campaign Financing

1884-11-04 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Grover Cleveland’s narrow victory over James G. Blaine in the 1884 presidential election occurs during a pivotal transition in American campaign finance, as the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 reduces party organizations’ reliance on government employee contributions and shifts the …

Grover Cleveland James G. Blaine U.S. Congress campaign-finance corporate-influence systematic-corruption institutional-capture

Chinese Exclusion Act Bans Immigration Through Racist Labor Scapegoating

1882-05-06 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Chester A. Arthur signs the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first significant federal law restricting immigration into the United States based on race and nationality. The law prohibits all immigration of Chinese laborers—defined as “both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese …

Chester A. Arthur U.S. Congress Chinese immigrant workers Labor unions West Coast employers immigration-policy racism labor-suppression gilded-age scapegoating +1 more

Posse Comitatus Act Restricts Federal Military from Domestic Law Enforcement

1878-06-18 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Rutherford B. Hayes signs the Posse Comitatus Act into law on June 18, 1878, restricting the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic law. Passed as an amendment to an army appropriations bill following the end of Reconstruction, the Act prohibits using the Army, Navy, Marine …

Rutherford B. Hayes U.S. Congress reconstruction-sabotage military-policy civil-rights-destruction institutional-capture

Bland-Allison Act Overrides Presidential Veto, Restores Silver Coinage

1878-02-28 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Congress overrides President Rutherford B. Hayes’s veto on February 28, 1878, to enact the Bland-Allison Act, requiring the U.S. Treasury to purchase between $2 million and $4 million of silver bullion each month and mint it into legal tender silver dollars. The Act represents a partial …

Richard P. Bland William B. Allison Rutherford B. Hayes U.S. Congress monetary-policy corporate-influence financial-system-capture gilded-age

Congress Seizes Black Hills With Only 10% Sioux Consent, Violating Fort Laramie Treaty Requirement for 75% Approval

1877-02-28 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

Congress passes the Act of February 28, 1877, implementing an “agreement” signed by only 10 percent of adult male Sioux—far below the three-fourths (75%) threshold explicitly required by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty for any cession of reservation lands. The Act strips over 7 million …

U.S. Congress Sioux Nation Lakota people President Ulysses S. Grant treaty-violations indigenous-genocide land-theft institutional-corruption congressional-capture

Congress Repeals Salary Grab Act After Public Outrage Over Corruption

1874-01-20 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Congress officially repeals the congressional portion of the Salary Grab Act on January 20, 1874, sustaining only the salary increases for the President and Supreme Court Justices. The repeal comes after months of intense public fury over the March 1873 legislation that doubled congressional …

U.S. Congress Ulysses S. Grant Elihu Washburne systematic-corruption legislative-corruption gilded-age elite-impunity

Fourteenth Amendment Ratified: Corporate Hijacking Begins

1868-07-09 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified after Louisiana and South Carolina provide the necessary three-fourths majority, extending citizenship and equal protection rights to formerly enslaved people. While designed to guarantee civil rights to Black Americans, the amendment’s broad …

U.S. Congress Louisiana Legislature South Carolina Legislature Reconstruction Governments institutional-capture legal-system-weaponization corporate-influence democratic-erosion

Congress Passes False Claims Act Allowing Citizens to Sue War Profiteers After Contractor Fraud Crisis

1863-03-02 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

President Lincoln signs the False Claims Act into law on March 2, 1863, creating a revolutionary mechanism to combat rampant war profiteering after unscrupulous contractors sell the Union Army defective equipment including sawdust-filled crates instead of muskets, diseased mules, substandard …

Abraham Lincoln U.S. Congress War profiteers false-claims-act war-profiteering whistleblower-protection accountability qui-tam

Pacific Railway Act Creates Land Grant System Enabling Massive Railroad Speculation and Corruption

1862-07-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act, authorizing extensive land grants in the Western United States and the issuance of 30-year government bonds to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad companies to construct a transcontinental railroad. While the act becomes …

Abraham Lincoln U.S. Congress Union Pacific Railroad Central Pacific Railroad Thomas C. Durant +1 more railroad-corruption land-grants speculation credit-mobilier institutional-corruption

Legal Tender Act Creates Unbacked Greenback Currency Enabling Speculation and Inflation Despite Constitutional Questions

1862-02-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Congress passes the Legal Tender Act on February 25, 1862, authorizing the issuance of $150 million in United States Notes (popularly called “greenbacks” for their distinctive color) to finance the Union war effort after spiraling costs rapidly deplete gold and silver reserves. The …

U.S. Congress Abraham Lincoln Edmund Dick Taylor Wall Street currency fiat-money financial-manipulation speculation inflation +1 more