Dependent and disability pension act

INTRODUCTION
Jump to search The Dependent and Disability Pension Act was passed by the United States Congress (26 Stat. 182) and signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on June 27, 1890. The act provided pensions for all veterans who had served at least ninety days in the Union military or naval forces, were honorably discharged from service and were unable to perform manual labor, regardless of their financial situation or when the disability was suffered. The bill was a source of contentious debate and only passed after Grover Cleveland had vetoed a previous version in 1887.

DEPENDENT AND DISABILITY PENSION ACT 1890

GOAL
THE GOAL OF THE DEPENDENT AND DISABILITY PENSION ACT IS TO PROVIDE THE HELP BY PROVIDING PENSION .
Dependent and Disability Pension Act. ... The act provided pensions for all veterans who had served at least ninety days in the Union military or naval forces, were honorably discharged from service and were unable to perform manual labor, regardless of their financial situation or when the disability was suffered.

CHARACTERISTIC
The issue of pensions for Civil War veterans had been discussed since the 1860s.
In 1862, a basic system was established which granted pensions to soldiers who could provide proof of time spent in the military and a disability incurred while in service.
Under this system, pension money could be collected from the date of discharge if claims were filed within one year of that date.
However, if claims were filed past this date, receipt of pension payment began on the date of application.[1]

CHARACTERISTIC
This last issue was addressed in the Arrears of Pension Act of 1879,
which allowed all Union veterans to reapply for pension and receive back payments to the date of their discharge, regardless of when they may have previously applied.
This legislation did not change the requirement that disabilities be service-related.
but was nevertheless a very expensive bill that set the stage for the larger fight to come.
Veterans could now receive large sums of money for several years of "missed" pension payments. This resulted in a flood of applications and a large increase in pension expenditures for the federal government.

IMPACT OF THE ACT 1890
The Disability and Dependent Pension Act was, according to the GAR national pension committee.
the most liberal pension measure ever passed by any legislative body in the world.
It resulted in an enormous spike in federal expenditures on pensions. In 1890, just 537,944 veterans were receiving pensions