Fantasy Congress Instructions You may write on the tournament bracket, but in order to have adequate space to write, please use a separate sheet of paper to complete tasks 3 and 4. You only need one paper per group, however, please make sure all of your names are on the paper. 1. Working as a group with members of your table, read about the sixteen most influential

laws passed by Congress. (These laws were highlighted in Government's Greatest Achievement's: From Civil Rights to Homeland Security, by Paul C. Light, and The Laws that Shaped America: Fifteen Acts of Congress and their Lasting Impact, by Dennis W. Johnson.)

2. Play the “teams” (the laws) against one another on the tournament bracket. Base your winner for each division on which law has had the most influence or benefit for the common good.

3. Write one sentence about the loser of each bracket, explaining why you felt it was a weaker or less effective law than the winner. You should have a total of 14 sentences, excluding the Championship Game.

4. Championship Game: You will be responsible for highlighting the advantages of the ultimate achievement of Congress.

o Title of Act, Year it was Passed

o Description: What did the legislation provide for? What was it about?

o Powers: Which expressed or implied powers of Congress allowed this legislation to take place?

o What if? Write a 1-2 paragraph description of what the US or world would be like if this legislation had never been passed.

Space Exploration  

  

   

Food Quality Protection

Wilderness Protection

 

  

 

Interstate Highw

ays

Elite Eight

Elite Eight

Arms Reduction

Civil Rights Protection

Final Four

Final Four

Fantasy Con

gressTourn

amen

t Bracket

Bank Stability

Regional Winner

EAST

Marshall Plan

Elite Eight

Elite Eight

Consumer Safety

Promise of Land

Higher Education

Westw

ard Expansion

Elite Eight Elite Eight

Child Nutrition

Regional Winner

WEST

The GI Bill

Final Four

Final Four

Social Security

Wom

en’s Suffrage

Elite Eight Elite Eight

Ultim

ate Champion

:

Group

Names:

 

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

Prom

oting Space Exploration N

ational Aeronautics and Space A

ct of 1958

Since the end of World

War II, the U

nited States had w

orked hto m

ake breakthrouin rocket science. his particular

ard ghs

nded or

nd

Tlegislation expathe original N

ational Advisory Com

mittee f

Aeronautics (NACA)

into what is now

known

as NASA. N

ASA research, w

hich was

generously funded by Eisenhower’s successors, John F.

Kennedy and Richard Nixon, w

as responsible for successful and groundbreaking Am

erican achievements

such as the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969 and the developm

ent of the space shuttle, first launched in 1981. M

ore recently, NASA has sent robotic exploratory m

issions to M

ars and launched a spacecraft to view Pluto. N

ASA’s research has also contributed to advances in consum

er-oriented goods such as telecom

munications satellites a

computer technology.

Wilderness Protection

Wilderness A

ct of 1964 This Act directed the Secretary of the Interior, w

ithin 10 years, to review

every roadless area of 5,000 or more

acres and every roadless island (regardless of size) within

National W

ildlife Refuge and National Park System

s and to recom

mend to the President the suitability of each

such area or island for inclusion in the National

Wilderness Preservation System

, with final decisions

made by C

ongress. U

nder authority of this Act, over 25 m

illion acres of land and w

ater in the N

ational W

ildlife Refuge System

were

reviewed.

Seven million

acres in were

found to be suitable to be m

ade into national parks. From these

recomm

endations, as of Decem

ber 1998, over 6,832,800 acres have been established as part of the N

ational W

ilderness Preservation System by special Acts of

Congress.

1

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

A

rms Reduction

The Arm

s Control and Disarm

ament A

ct of 1961 This w

as landmark legislation designed to create arm

s control and reduction as a key com

ponent of United

States national security policy during and after the Cold W

ar. W

ith this act, Congress achieved three main tasks: (1) it

set ambitious goals and purposes for coordinating

disarmam

ent with other defense strategies; (2) it created

the U.S. Arm

s Control and Disarm

ament Agency, a body

that would m

ake the country's comm

itment to arm

s control a part of its governing institutions; and (3) it established standards and procedures for integrating all aspects of security policy. This act w

as crucial in encouraging the U

nited States to work together w

ith other countries, such as Russia, tow

ards reducing nuclear stockpiles.

Bank Stability Banking A

ct of 1933 By the early 1930s, the G

reat D

epression had started and Am

erica's financial markets

lay in ruin. Due to the

financial chaos initiated by the stock m

arket crash of O

ctober 1929, more than

9,000 banks had failed by M

arch of 1933, signaling the w

orst economic depression in

modern history.

The government took action to protect people w

ho had deposited their m

oney in banks by creating the Banking Act of 1933, w

hich also formed the FD

IC. The FDIC's

purpose was to provide stability to the econom

y and the failing banking system

. Officially created in the G

lass-Steagall Act of 1933, and m

odeled after the deposit insurance program

initially enacted in Massachusetts, the

FDIC guaranteed a specific am

ount of checking and savings deposits for its m

ember banks. This action

prevented thousands of people from losing m

oney they had saved, and encouraged people to start depositing m

oney to banks once again.

2

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

Consum

er Safety and Protection The Consum

er Product Safety Act of 1972

This created the Consumer

Product Safety Com

mission w

hich, when

it finds an unreasonable risk of injury associated w

ith a consumer product

it can develop a standard to reduce or elim

inate the risk. It can also ban a product if it does not m

eet reasonable safety standards, and it has the authority to force recalls for products that present a substantial product hazard. This sam

e legislation is the one that protects consum

ers from lead in paint, toys that are fire hazards,

and other dangerous problems.

This legislation also led to consumer protection in other

areas, including food, drugs, cosmetics, m

edical devices, tobacco products, firearm

s and amm

unition, motor

vehicles, pesticides, aircraft, boats and fixed site am

usement rides.

Increase Access to Post-Secondary Education

Higher Education A

ct of 1965 W

ith the goal of strengthening American colleges and

universities, the Higher Education Act provides financial

assistance and other resources for students pursuing postsecondary and college degrees. The act also provides funding for extension and continuing education program

s. It allocates [gives] funds to increase library collections, and the num

ber of employed qualified librarians. It also

focuses on strengthening schools by means of faculty

exchange programs, joint use of learning facilities, and

training programs for developing m

ore capable faculties. Finally, the H

igher Education Act assists students by supporting undergraduate scholarships, loans w

ith reduced interest rates, and w

ork-study programs. It

concentrates on im

proving the quality of teaching, and provides financial assistance to im

prove undergraduate instruction (by, for exam

ple, providing assistance to those institutions that are unable to afford m

odern teaching m

aterials).

3

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

Reduce H

unger and Improve N

utrition Child N

utrition Act of 1966 The Act w

as created as a result of the years of cum

ulative successful experience under the N

ational School Lunch Program

to help m

eet the nutritional needs of children. The N

ational School Lunch Program

feeds 30.5 million children per day (as of 2007).

NSLP w

as operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools in 2007. The m

ilk program, functioning

since 1954, was extended on June 30, 1970 and

incorporated into the act. The act also provided Federal funding assistance tow

ards non-food purchases for school equipm

ent. The act established the School Breakfast Program

, a federally assisted m

eal program that provides low

-cost or free breakfasts to children in public and non-profit schools as w

ell as child care institutions. During the

signing of the act, the president remarked that “good

nutrition is essential to good learning.”

Promoting Security and H

ealth for the Elderly Social Security Acts of 1935 and 1965 This w

as enacted in the throes of the Great D

epression. The law

got its title from the groundbreaking social

insurance program designed to provide a steady incom

e for retired w

orkers aged 65 or older. The act has been am

ended numerous tim

es, and payroll taxes grew

to pay for it. In the 1950s, more people w

ere added to Social Security's beneficiary pool, and the benefit w

as increased, including the first cost-of-living allow

ance since 1940. In 1956, disability insurance was

instituted. Early retirement for w

omen at age 62 w

as perm

itted. Payroll taxes hovered at four percent. In 1965, the passage of the Social Security Act Am

endments, popularly know

n as Medicare, resulted in a

basic program of hospital insurance for persons aged 65

and older, and a supplementary m

edical insurance program

to aid the elderly in paying health care bills. It w

as funded by a tax on the earnings of em

ployees, matched

by by employers,

and was w

ell received. In the first three years of the program

, nearly 20 m

illion beneficiaries enrolled in it.

4

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

Safe Food and D

rinking Water

Food Quality Protection Act (FQ

PA) of 1996 Congress presented the Environm

ental Protection Agency w

ith an enormous challenge of im

plementing the m

ost com

prehensive and historic overhaul of the Nation's

pesticide and food safety laws in decades.

The Food Quality Protection Act am

ended the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food D

rug, and Cosmetic Act (FFD

CA) by fundam

entally changing the way EPA regulates

pesticides. Som

e of the major

requirements include

stricter safety standards, especially for infants and children, and a com

plete reassessm

ent of all existing pesticide tolerances. This w

eb site provides background inform

ation on FQ

PA's provisions and discusses som

e of the specific issues raised by FQ

PA, as well as the law

's im

plementation status.

Strengthen the Nation's H

ighway System

Interstate H

ighway Act of 1956

Popularly known as the

National Interstate and

Defense H

ighways Act,

the Federal-Aid H

ighway Act of 1956

established an interstate highw

ay system

in the United

States. The movem

ent behind the construction of a transcontinental highw

ay started in the 1930s w

hen President Franklin Roosevelt expressed interest in the construction of a netw

ork of toll superhighw

ays that w

ould provide more jobs for people in need of w

ork during the G

reat Depression. But w

ith America on the

verge of joining the war in Europe, the tim

e for a massive

highway program

had not arrived. At the end of the war,

the Federal-Aid Highw

ay Act of 1944 funded highway

improvem

ents and established major new

ground by authorizing and designating, the construction of 40,000 m

iles of a “National System

of Interstate Highw

ays.”

5

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

Civil Rights – Reducing D

iscrimination

Civil Rights Act of 1964

This act, signed into law

by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, prohibited discrim

ination in public places, provided for the integration of

schools and other public facilities, and made em

ployment

discrimination illegal. The act outlaw

ed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discrim

inatory practices in employm

ent and ended segregation in public places such as sw

imm

ing pools, libraries, and public schools.This docum

ent was

the most sw

eeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. In a nationally televised address in 1963, President Kennedy urged the nation to take action tow

ard guaranteeing equal treatm

ent of every American

regardless of race. Soon after, Kennedy proposed that Congress consider civil rights legislation that w

ould address voting rights, public accom

modations, school

desegregation, nondiscrimination in federally assisted

programs, and m

ore. Despite Kennedy’s assassination in

Novem

ber of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil

Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Johnson.

Marshall Plan: Rebuilding Europe after W

orld War II

Economic Recovery Act of 1948

Better known as the M

arshall Plan, this Act provided econom

ic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure

of post-war Europe.

When W

orld War II ended in 1945, Europe lay in ruins: its

cities were shattered; its econom

ies were devastated; its

people faced famine. After the w

ar, the Soviet Union’s

control of Eastern Europe heightened the sense of crisis. To m

eet this emergency, Secretary of State G

eorge Marshall

proposed that Europe create a plan for their economic

reconstruction and that the United States provide econom

ic assistance. O

ver the next four years, Congress appropriated $13.3 billion for European recovery. This aid provided m

uch needed capital and m

aterials that enabled Europeans to rebuild the continent’s econom

y. For the US, the M

arshall Plan provided m

arkets for American goods, created reliable

trading partners, and supported the developm

ent of stable dem

ocratic governments in

Western Europe. In short,

the Marshall Plan re-

energized the economies

of both the United States

and Europe. Congress’s approval of the M

arshall Plan signaled an extension of the bipartisanship of W

orld War II into the

postwar years.

6

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

The Prom

ise of Land The H

omestead and M

orrill Act of 1862 The H

omestead Act, enacted during the Civil W

ar in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, w

ho had never taken arms against the U

.S. governm

ent could claim 160 acres of governm

ent land. Claim

ants were required to “im

prove” the plot by building a dw

elling and cultivating the land. After 5 years on the land, the original filer w

as entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a sm

all registration fee. The M

orrill Act comm

itted the Federal Governm

ent to grant each state 30,000 acres of public land for each of its Representatives and Senators in Congress. The M

orrill land grants laid the foundation for a national system

of state colleges and universities. In som

e cases, the land sales financed existing colleges; in others, new

schools w

ere created by the states. Major universities such as

Nebraska, Kentucky, Clem

son, and Cornell were

chartered as land-grant schools. State colleges brought higher education w

ithin the reach of m

illions of students, a developm

ent that could not help but reshape the nation’s social and econom

ic fabric.

Westw

ard Expansion N

orthwest O

rdinance of 1787

Considered to be one of the most significant

achievements of the Congress of the Confederation, the

Northw

est Ordinance of 1787 put the w

orld on notice not only that the land north of the O

hio River and east of the M

ississippi would be settled, but that it w

ould eventually becom

e part of the United States. U

ntil then this area had been tem

porarily forbidden to development.

Increasing numbers of settlers and land speculators w

ere attracted to w

hat are now the states of O

hio, Indiana, Illinois, M

ichigan and Wisconsin. This pressure together

with the dem

and from the O

hio Land Company, soon to

obtain vast holdings in the Northw

est, prompted the

Congress to pass this Ordinance.

7

Fan

tasy Con

gress: T

he Sw

eet Sixteen

8

iced

Promise to A

merican Veterans

GI Bill of 1944

This was a series of benefits for W

orld War II veterans

granted by the U.S. Congress under the Servicem

en's Readjustm

ent Act of 1944 and extended by later legislation. Adm

inistrated by the Veterans Adm

inistration, these benefits included educational scholarships for college or vocational training, m

ortgage loan guarantees for hom

e buyers, and cash payments for

those unemployed after discharge. Betw

een 1944 and 1949, nearly 9 m

illion veterans received a total of $4 billion from

the G.I. Bill's com

pensation program.

Benefits similar to the G

.I. Bill would be extended to

veterans of the Korean War. Subsequently, the Veterans’

Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended such

provisions to all who serve in the arm

ed forces, even in peacetim

e. The precedents established by the G

.I. Bill for federal aid to higher education w

ould expand over the course of the Cold W

ar. Totaling over $14 billion, the bill w

as crucial to the expansion of the m

iddle class.

Wom

en’s Suffrage 19th Am

endment, 1920

The 19th am

endment

guarantees all American w

omen

the right to vote. Achieving this m

ilestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the m

id-19th century, several generations of w

oman suffrage

supporters lectured, wrote,

marched, lobbied, and pract

civil disobedience to achieve w

hat many Am

ericans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few

early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920. Betw

een 1878, when the am

endment w

as first introduced in Congress, and August 18, 1920, w

hen it was ratified,

champions of voting rights for w

omen w

orked tirelessly, but strategies for achieving their goal varied. Som

e pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in each state—nine w

estern states adopted wom

an suffrage legislation by 1912. Som

e suffragists used tactics such as parades and hunger strikes. O

ften supporters met fierce

resistance. Opponents heckled, jailed, and som

etimes

physically abused them.