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User:Maxefremov

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Hey

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME MAKE THIS PAGE BELOW!!! Thanks.

Most Controversial Bills passed in US Congress

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An article that documents some of the most controversial bills in the history of American Congress.

A lot of bills and legislation that we view as fundamental to our livelihood and seem that if they were up for vote again then they would be passed inevitably, were, at one time, extremely controversial in their day of reckoning. Some examples off the top of the head (unfortunately, these are not sourced, more on this later) are:

  • Pure Food and Drug Act (businessmen everywhere were aghast at how they thought prices would rise in order to meet the "ridiculous" demand of sending materials and ingredients to the government for testing, and if their product was found unclean, they would be taken off shelves... before this Act, cocaine could be served as a "hangover cure" and couldn't be regulated).
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act, instrumental in eventually breaking monopolies and competition-stifling corporations.
  • 13th and 14th Amendments, as some where aghast at the fact that slaves weren't going to be slaves anymore.

These bills are viewed as pretty much a "done deal" and debate over them is somewhat immutable. No one could feasibly overturn the Pure F&D Act or the 13th and 14th amendments.

My request comes at a time when it seems every big bill in congress completely envelops the public in debate. Debate in classrooms, schools, workplaces, and, of course, congress. Bills like the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" (the bank, GM, and economy bail-out bill ~$700 billion) and the recent healthcare act are extremely controversial and would be included. But the article would be more than informative if we record the public outrage and/or debate, and document it for future generations. When universal healthcare is taken for granted in the future, we can show that at one time, it was very up in the air.

To clarify, of course every bill generates debate, especially because we have a two party system that both obstruct each other, but bills that also generate intense and enormous debate in the public.