UNITED STATES CONGRESS
(congress)
At the time being a seaman was a very dangerous job with a high rate of injury and disease from foreign ports. Congress passed and President John Adams signed this law which provided some marine health services for seaman. However, the reason it is politically most interesting is that it is the first Federal mandate on private citizens. Further it actually required that sailors who were privately employed purchase health insurance. The Federal government was the single payer in what many conservatives would call “socialized medicine.” What is fascinating is that in the huge political debate of the Obama administration over the mandate to buy health insurance this precedent virtually never appeared in the arguments, court cases, news media and political debates. Forbes Magazine ran an article about it in 2011 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/01/17/congress-passes-socialized-medicine-and-mandates-health-insurance-in-1798/2/ ) As passionate as everyone else was, they just didn’t know the political history of our own country enough to use the example in the debate. This was also the first example of Federal “withholding” where the employer collects the money from the individual by withholding it from his pay and turns it over to the federal government.
The Congress formed a Joint Committee to design the first Inauguration Oath Ceremony.
This proposed Constitutional Amendment was debated just before Abraham Lincoln would take office. The South wanted to tie his hands on the Slavery issue, and wanted to end what had become a constant polarized Congressional debate over slavery. Of course, their idea of ending the debate was to Constitutionally prohibit further attempts to outlaw or otherwise interfere with slavery in the Southern states. A number of Northern members of Congress voted for it realizing that there was little or no chance of obtaining the ratifications of ¾ of the states and they wanted to buy some time for the Southerners to calm down over their fear of Lincoln and his upstart Republican party. The Amendment never obtained the needed votes though a few states did ratify it. Secession and the Civil War mad the amendment moot. The Southern position was so rigid, that they would compromise in no way on the slavery issue, and ended up of course losing more than they ever thought was possible by succeeding. Another reason this proposed amendment is historically important, is that it is yet another strong piece of evidence that the issue of the Civil War was slavery and not differences in political and economic philosophies as many Southerners have claimed since then. If States Rights in general were the great concern, would have been no reason to single out slavery if it were not the major issue. Yet the last phrase, “including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State” does just. Similar evidence is given by the Secession Resolutions of the Southern States and the debates around them. It is clear that slavery was the issue that the South fought over.
This was the inception of the Civil War draft.
Note that this opportunity to obtain very inexpensive public land was given not only to citizens, but to new immigrants as well provided they had filed their intention to become nationalized citizens. Loyalty was required however.
This was the first named Civil Rights Act passed in the United States. It was passed over the veto of President Andrew Johnson, a Southerner, who tried to thwart Congress’s efforts at Reconstruction.
The influence of monied corporations had reached a degree that there was a national backlash and this law was passed. A century later, the problem was even worse. Instead of corporations giving money to candidates campaigns, corporations give money to Political Action Committees (PACs). Corporate money still is a major factor in politics.
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, and only rarely to a third party or as independents. Congress has 535 voting members: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators.; A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different nations, constituent states, independent organizations, or groups.
