List of United States federal legislation

This is a partial list of notable United States federal legislation, in chronological order. At the federal level in the United States, legislation (a.k.a. "statutes" or "statutory law") consists exclusively of Acts passed by the Congress of the United States (and its predecessor, the Continental Congress), that were either signed into law by the President or subsequently passed by Congress after a presidential veto.

Each biennial Congress enacts approximately 200–300 statutes. After 109 Congresses, more than 20,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789. This list contains, therefore, only a small selection. Most of the statutes listed here have already merited an article in this encyclopedia.

Contents: Publication of the law Statutes at Large Sessions and Chapters Public Laws United States Code Examples Continental Congress Years: Congress number 1789–1801: 1 2 3 4 5 6 1801–1811: 7 8 9 10 11 1811–1821: 12 13 14 15 16 1821–1831: 17 18 19 20 21 1831–1841: 22 23 24 25 26 1841–1851: 27 28 29 30 31 1851–1861: 32 33 34 35 36 1861–1871: 37 38 39 40 41 1871–1881: 42 43 44 45 46 1881–1891: 47 48 49 50 51 1891–1901: 52 53 54 55 56 1901–1911: 57 58 59 60 61 1911–1921: 62 63 64 65 66 1921–1931: 67 68 69 70 71 1931–1941: 72 73 74 75 76 1941–1951: 77 78 79 80 81 1951–1961: 82 83 84 85 86 1961–1971: 87 88 89 90 91 1971–1981: 92 93 94 95 96 1981–1991: 97 98 99 100 101 1991–2001: 102 103 104 105 106 2001–present: 107 108 109 110 See also Sources

Legislation is not the only source of regulations with force of law. However, most executive branch regulations must originate in a congressional grant of power. See also: Executive orders of the President; regulations of Executive branch departments and administrative agencies; and the procedural rules of the federal courts.

Publication of the law

"Statutes at Large" (Stat.)

Acts of Congress are published in the United States Statutes at Large. Volumes 1 through 18, which have all the statutes passed from 1789 to 1875, are available on-line at the Library of Congress, here. In the list below, some statutes are listed by chapter and X Stat. Y. With the beginning of each new Congress, the chapter is the order in which the statute was enacted during that Congress. See example below.

"Sessions" (Sess.) and "Chapters" (ch.)

Each Congress has two or three sessions. In each session, the Acts are numbered sequentially as "Chapter."

"Public Laws"

Today, Acts of Congress are designated in the form: Public Law X-Y where X is the number of the ordinal Congress and Y is the number of the chronological order of the Act in that Congress. See example below.

"United States Code"

General and permanent laws of the United States are codified into the United States Code (abbreviated here and commonly elsewhere as "U.S.C."), where they are ordered by topic rather than chronology. Where known, an external link is provided in the list below to the U.S. Code section (via the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University).

Examples

The Militia Act of 1862 of July 17, 1862, Sess. 2, ch. 201, was the 201st Act of the second session of the 37th Congress.
The National Banking Act of February 25 1863, Sess. 3, ch. 58, was the 58th Act of the third session of the 37th Congress.
The Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 of October 16 2004, Pub.L. 108-332, 118 Stat. 1282, was the 332nd Act of Congress (statute) passed in the 108th Congress. It can be found in volume 118 of the U.S. Statutes at Large, starting at page 1282.
The Help America Vote Act of October 29 2002, Pub.L. 107-252, 116 Stat. 1666, was the 252nd Act of the 107th Congress. It can be found in volume 116 of the U.S. Statutes at Large, starting at page 1666.

Continental Congress

1784 — Northwest Ordinance of 1784 (Called for the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into ten separate states)
1785-05-21 — Land Ordinance of 1785
1787-07-13 — Ordinance of 1787: The Northwest Territorial Government ("Northwest Ordinance")

1789 to 1801

4th United States Congress

5th United States Congress

Alien and Sedition Acts:
- June 18 1798 — An Act to establish an uniform rule of naturalization (Naturalization Act of 1798), Sess. 2, ch. 54, 1 Stat. 566
- June 25 1798 — An Act concerning Aliens, Sess. 2, ch. 58, 1 Stat. 570
- July 6 1798 — An Act respecting Alien Enemies, Sess. 2, ch. 66, 1 Stat. 577
- July 14 1798 — An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States (Sedition Act), Sess. 2, ch. 74, 1 Stat. 596

6th United States Congress

February 13 1801 — Judiciary Act of 1801, Sess. 2, ch. 4, 2 Stat. 89

1801 to 1811

7th United States Congress

April 29 1802 — Judiciary Act of 1802, Sess. 1, ch. 31, 2 Stat. 156
April 30 1802 — Enabling Act of 1802, Sess. 1, ch. 40, 2 Stat. 173

8th United States Congress

9th United States Congress

1806-03-29 — Cumberland Road, Sess. 1, ch. 19, 2 Stat. 357
1807-03-02 — Slave Trade Prohibition Act, Sess. 2, ch. 22, 2 Stat. 426

10th United States Congress

1807-12-22 — Embargo Act of 1807, Sess. 1, ch. 5, 2 Stat. 451
1809-03-01 — Non-Intercourse Act, Sess. 2, ch. 24, 2 Stat. 528

11th United States Congress

May 1, 1810 — Macon's Bill Number 2, Sess. 2, ch. 39, 2 Stat. 605

April 10 1816 — Second Bank of the United States, ch. 94, 3 Stat. 266

15th United States Congress

April 4 1818 — Flag Act of 1818, ch. 34, 3 Stat. 415

16th United States Congress

March 6, 1820 — Missouri Compromise, ch. 22, 3 Stat. 545
April 24 1820 — Land Act of 1820, ch. 51, 3 Stat. 566

1821 to 1831

17th United States Congress

18th United States Congress

1824-01-07 — Tariff of 1824, ch.4, 4 Stat. 2

19th United States Congress

20th United States Congress

1828-05-24 — Tariff of Abominations, ch. 111, 4 Stat. 308

21st United States Congress

1830-05-28 — Indian Removal Act, ch. 148, 4 Stat. 411

1831 to 1841

22nd United States Congress

1832 — Tariff of 1832
1833-03-02 — Compromise Tariff (Tariff of 1833), ch. 55, 4 Stat. 629
1833-03-02 — Force Bill, ch. 57, 4 Stat. 632

1841 to 1851

27th United States Congress

1841-04-19 — Bankruptcy Act of 1841, ch. 9, 5 Stat. 440
1842-08-30 - Tariff of 1842 ("Black Tariff"), ch. 270, 5 Stat. 548

28th United States Congress

29th United States Congress

July 30 1846 — Walker tariff, ch. 74, 9 Stat. 42

30th United States Congress

March 3 1849 — Coinage Act of 1849, ch. 109, 9 Stat. 397

31st United States Congress

September 9, 1850 — Compromise of 1850, ch. 49, 9 Stat. 446
September 18 1850 — Fugitive Slave Act, ch. 60, 9 Stat. 462
September 29 1850 — Donation Land Claim Act, ch. 76, 9 Stat. 496

1851 to 1861

32nd United States Congress

33rd United States Congress

May 30, 1854 — Kansas-Nebraska Act, ch. 59, 10 Stat. 277

34th United States Congress

August 18, 1856 — Guano Islands Act, ch. 164, 11 Stat. 119

35th United States Congress

36th United States Congress

March 2, 1861 — Morrill tariff, ch. 68, 12 Stat. 178

1861 to 1871

37th United States Congress

August 5, 1861 — Revenue Act of 1861, Sess. 2, ch. 45, 12 Stat. 242
May 20 1862 — Homestead Act, Sess. 2, ch. 75, 12 Stat. 392
July 1, 1862 — Revenue Act of 1862, Sess. 2, ch. 119, 12 Stat. 432
July 1, 1862 — Pacific Railway Act, Sess. 2, ch. 120, 12 Stat. 489
July 2, 1862 — Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act, ch. 130, 12 Stat. 503
July 17, 1862 — Militia Act, Sess. 2, ch. 201, 12 Stat. 597
February 25 1863 — National Banking Act, Sess. 3, ch 58, 12 Stat. 665
March 2 1863 — False Claims Act, Sess. 3, ch. 67, 12 Stat. 696
March 3 1863 — Enrollment Act, Sess. 3, ch. 75, 12 Stat. 731

38th United States Congress

April 22, 1864 — Coinage Act of 1864, ch. 66 13 Stat. 54
March 3 1865 — Freedman's Bureau, ch. 90, 13 Stat. 507

39th United States Congress

April 9, 1866 — Civil Rights Act of 1866, ch. 31, 14 Stat. 27
July 23, 1866 — Judicial Circuits Act, ch. 210, 14 Stat. 209
March 2, 1867 — Reconstruction Act, ch. 153, 14 Stat. 428
March 2, 1867 — Tenure of Office Act, ch. 154, 14 Stat. 430

40th United States Congress

Reconstruction Acts, continued:
- March 23, 1867, ch. 6, 15 Stat. 2
- July 19, 1867, ch. 30, 15 Stat. 14
- March 11, 1868, ch. 25, 15 Stat. 25

41st United States Congress

April 10 1869 — Judiciary Act of 1869 (Circuit Judges Act of 1869), ch. 22, 16 Stat. 44
May 31 1870 — Force Act of 1870, ch. 114, 16 Stat. 140
July 14 1870 — Naturalization Act of 1870, ch. 254, 16 Stat. 254

1871 to 1881

42nd United States Congress

April 20 1871 — Ku Klux Act (Civil Rights Act of 1871, Ku Klux Klan Act), ch. 22, 17 Stat. 13
February 21 1871 — District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, ch. 61&62,
March 1 1872 — Yellowstone Act, ch. 24, 17 Stat. 32
May 10 1872 — General Mining Act of 1872, ch. 152, 17 Stat. 91, R.S. §§2319—2328, 2331, 2333-2338, 2344
May 22 1872 — Amnesty Act, ch. 193, 17 Stat. 142
June 1 1872 — Practice Conformity Act (precursor to the Rules Enabling Act), ch. 255, 17 Stat. 196
February 12 1873 — Coinage Act of 1873, ch. 131, 17 Stat. 424
March 3, 1873 — Comstock Act, ch. 258, 17 Stat. 598
March 3, 1873 — Timber Culture Act, ch. 277, 17 Stat. 205

43rd United States Congress

June 23, 1874 — Poland Act, ch. 469, 18 Stat. 253
January 14, 1875 — Specie Payment Resumption Act, ch. 15, 18 Stat. 296
March 1, 1875 — Civil Rights Act of 1875, 18 Stat. 335
March 3, 1875 — Page Act of 1875, ch. 141, 18 Stat. 477

44th United States Congress

45th United States Congress

February 28, 1878 — Bland-Allison Act (Coinage Act (Silver Dollar)), ch. 20, 20 Stat. 25
April 29, 1878 — National Quarantine Act, ch. 66
June 18, 1878 — Posse Comitatus Act, ch. 263, §15, 20 Stat. 152

46th United States Congress

1881 to 1891

47th United States Congress

May 6, 1882 — Chinese Exclusion Act, 22 Stat. 58
January 16, 1883 — Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, ch. 27, 22 Stat. 403

48th United States Congress

49th United States Congress

February 4, 1887 — Interstate Commerce Act, ch. 104, 24 Stat. 379
February 8, 1887 — Indian General Allotment Act ("Dawes Act"), ch. 119, 24 Stat. 388
March 2, 1887 — Hatch Act of 1887, ch. 314, 24 Stat. 440
March 3, 1887 — Tucker Act, ch. 359, 24 Stat. 505

50th United States Congress

51st United States Congress

July 2, 1890 — Sherman Antitrust Act, ch. 647, 26 Stat. 209
July 14 1890 — Sherman Silver Purchase Act, ch. 708, 26 Stat. 289
October 1 1890 — McKinley tariff, ch. 1244, 26 Stat. 567
1891 — Forest Reserve Act of 1891
March 3 1891 — Land Revision Act of 1891

1891 to 1901

52nd United States Congress

May 5, 1892 — Geary Act, ch. 60, 27 Stat. 25 (amended the Chinese Exclusion Act)

53rd United States Congress

August 27 1894 — Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, ch. 349, §73 et seq., 28 Stat. 570

54th United States Congress

55th United States Congress

July 24, 1897 — Dingley tariff, ch. 11, 30 Stat. 151 (amended the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act)
July 1, 1898 — Bankruptcy Act of 1898, ch. 541, 30 Stat. 544
July 7, 1898 — Newlands Resolution, No. 55, 30 Stat. 750

56th United States Congress

March 14 1900 — Gold Standard Act, Sess. 1, ch. 41, 31 Stat. 45
April 2 1900 — Foraker Act, Sess. 1, ch. 191, 31 Stat. 77 (Puerto Rico Civil Code)

1901 to 1911

57th United States Congress

1902-06-17 — Newlands Reclamation Act (National Irrigation Act, Reclamation Act), Sess. 1, ch. 1093, 32 Stat. 388
1902-06-28 — Isthmian Canal Act (Panama Canal), Sess. 1, ch. 1302, 32 Stat. 481
1903-01-21 — Militia Act of 1903 (Dick Act), Sess. 2, ch. 196, 32 Stat. 775
1903-02-19 — Elkins Act, Sess. 2, ch. 708, 32 Stat. 847

58th United States Congress

59th United States Congress

1906-06-01 — Federal Employers’ Liability Act, Sess. 1, ch. 3073
1906-06-08 — American Antiquities Act (National Monument Act), Sess. 1, ch. 3060, 34 Stat. 225
1906-06-29 — Hepburn Act, Sess. 1, ch. 3591, 34 Stat. 584
1906-06-30 — Pure Food and Drug Act, Sess. 1, ch. 3915, 34 Stat. 768
1907-03-04 — Meat Inspection Act, Sess. 2, ch. 2907, titles I to IV, 34 Stat. 1260