- Bonus Bill
Two major bills of the
United States Congress have been called the Bonus Bill. The first, in 1817, proposed spending proceeds from theSecond Bank of the United States on an east-westroad . Later, this term was applied to welfare bills forWorld War I veterans opposed byFranklin Roosevelt in his first two Presidential terms, eventually overcoming hispresidential veto .Bonus Bill of 1817
The Bonus Bill of 1817 was a bill introduced by
John C. Calhoun to provideUnited States highway s linking The East and South to The West using the earnings "Bonus" from theSecond Bank of the United States . It was a part of the American System, which was proposed byHenry Clay , a colleague of Calhoun. Calhoun argued for it using general welfare and post roads clauses. The bill was strongly opposed inNew England , because people there feared that providing the means for settlers to travel would drain their population and create competing states in the area obtained in theLouisiana Purchase . Though he approved of the goals, PresidentJames Madison vetoed the bill as unconstitutional understrict constructionist ideals.Bonus Bills of 1930s
Veterans of the First World War in the United States had been promised a cash bonus payable in 1945. Beginning in 1931, veterans organized to get full payment immediately. Congressman
Wright Patman and SenatorHuey Long were the leading proponents. PresidentsHerbert Hoover andFranklin Delano Roosevelt strongly opposed the payment. 45,000 veterans calling themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force orBonus Army marched on Washington in 1932 and were driven out by the Army. Congress passed several bonus bills that were vetoed and finally overcame Roosevelt's veto in 1936 (Adjusted Compensation Payment Act, 1936,January 27 ,1936 , ch. 32, 49 Stat. 1099). The Treasury distributed $1.5 billion in cash to the 4 million veterans.References
Books
*Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen. "The Bonus Army: An American Epic" (2004).
*Donald Lisio. "The President and Protest: Hoover, MacArthur, and the Bonus Riot" (1994).External links
* [http://www.constitution.org/jm/18170303_veto.htm Text of Madison's Veto of the Bonus Bill]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAbonus.htm Primary Documents with Veto Messages by Hoover]
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