The Fantasy Congress document provides instructions for a group activity analyzing influential laws passed by Congress. Participants are instructed to read about influential laws, play "teams" of laws against each other in a tournament bracket to determine the most influential, and write sentences explaining the less effective laws and highlighting the advantages of the ultimate champion law.

1. Fantasy Congress Instructions
You may write on the tournament bracket, but in order to have adequate space to write,
please use a separate sheet of paper to complete tasks 3 and 4. You only need one paper
per group, however, please make sure all of your names are on the paper.
1. Working as a group with members of your table, read about the sixteen most influential
laws passed by Congress. (These laws were highlighted in Government's Greatest
Achievement's: From Civil Rights to Homeland Security, by Paul C. Light, and The Laws
that Shaped America: Fifteen Acts of Congress and their Lasting Impact, by Dennis W.
Johnson.)
2. Play the “teams” (the laws) against one another on the tournament bracket. Base your
winner for each division on which law has had the most influence or benefit for the
common good.
3. Write one sentence about the loser of each bracket, explaining why you felt it was a
weaker or less effective law than the winner. You should have a total of 14 sentences,
excluding the Championship Game.
4. Championship Game: You will be responsible for highlighting the advantages of the
ultimate achievement of Congress.
o Title of Act, Year it was Passed
o Description: What did the legislation provide for? What was it about?
o Powers: Which expressed or implied powers of Congress allowed this legislation
to take place?
o What if? Write a 1-2 paragraph description of what the US or world would be like
if this legislation had never been passed.

2. Space Exploration
Fantasy Congress
Food Quality Protection
Tournament Bracket
Elite Eight Elite Eight
Wilderness Protection Interstate Highways
Final Four Final Four
Arms Reduction Civil Rights Protection
Regional Winner
EAST
Elite Eight Elite Eight
Bank Stability Marshall Plan
Ultimate Champion:
Consumer Safety Promise of Land
Elite Eight Elite Eight
Higher Education Westward Expansion
Regional Winner
WEST
Final Four Final Four
Child Nutrition The GI Bill
Elite Eight Elite Eight
Social Security Group Names: Women’s Suffrage

3. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Promoting Space Exploration Wilderness Protection
National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 Wilderness Act of 1964
Since the end of World This Act directed the Secretary of the Interior, within 10
War II, the United years, to review every roadless area of 5,000 or more
States had worked hard acres and every roadless island (regardless of size) within
to make breakthroughs National Wildlife Refuge and National Park Systems and
in rocket science. to recommend to the President the suitability of each
such area or island for inclusion in the National
This particular Wilderness Preservation System, with final decisions
legislation expanded made by Congress.
the original National
Advisory Committee for Under
Aeronautics (NACA) authority of
into what is now known this Act, over
as NASA. NASA 25 million
research, which was acres of land
generously funded by Eisenhower’s successors, John F. and water in
Kennedy and Richard Nixon, was responsible for the National
successful and groundbreaking American achievements Wildlife Refuge
such as the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969 and the System were
development of the space shuttle, first launched in 1981. reviewed.
More recently, NASA has sent robotic exploratory missions Seven million
to Mars and launched a spacecraft to view Pluto. NASA’s acres in were
research has also contributed to advances in consumer- found to be
oriented goods such as telecommunications satellites and suitable to be made into national parks. From these
computer technology. recommendations, as of December 1998, over 6,832,800
acres have been established as part of the National
Wilderness Preservation System by special Acts of
Congress.
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4. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Arms Reduction Bank Stability
The Arms Control and Disarmament Act of 1961 Banking Act of 1933
This was landmark legislation designed to create arms By the early 1930s, the Great
control and reduction as a key component of United Depression had started and
States national security policy during and after the Cold America's financial markets
War. lay in ruin. Due to the
financial chaos initiated by
With this act, Congress achieved three main tasks: (1) it the stock market crash of
set ambitious goals and purposes for coordinating October 1929, more than
disarmament with other defense strategies; (2) it created 9,000 banks had failed by
the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, a body March of 1933, signaling the
that would make the country's commitment to arms worst economic depression in
control a part of its governing institutions; and (3) it modern history.
established standards and procedures for integrating all
aspects of security policy. This act was crucial in The government took action to protect people who had
encouraging the United States to work together with deposited their money in banks by creating the Banking
other countries, such as Russia, towards reducing nuclear Act of 1933, which also formed the FDIC. The FDIC's
stockpiles. purpose was to provide stability to the economy and the
failing banking system. Officially created in the Glass-
Steagall Act of 1933, and modeled after the deposit
insurance program initially enacted in Massachusetts, the
FDIC guaranteed a specific amount of checking and
savings deposits for its member banks. This action
prevented thousands of people from losing money they
had saved, and encouraged people to start depositing
money to banks once again.
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5. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Consumer Safety and Protection Increase Access to Post-Secondary Education
The Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 Higher Education Act of 1965
This created the Consumer With the goal of strengthening American colleges and
Product Safety universities, the Higher Education Act provides financial
Commission which, when assistance and other resources for students pursuing
it finds an unreasonable postsecondary and college degrees. The act also provides
risk of injury associated funding for extension and continuing education programs.
with a consumer product It allocates [gives] funds to increase library collections,
it can develop a standard and the number of employed qualified librarians. It also
to reduce or eliminate the focuses on strengthening schools by means of faculty
risk. It can also ban a exchange programs, joint use of learning facilities, and
product if it does not training programs for developing more capable faculties.
meet reasonable safety Finally, the Higher Education Act assists students by
standards, and it has the supporting undergraduate scholarships, loans with
authority to force recalls reduced interest rates, and work-study programs. It
for products that present concentrates on
a substantial product improving the quality
hazard. This same legislation is the one that protects of teaching, and
consumers from lead in paint, toys that are fire hazards, provides financial
and other dangerous problems. assistance to improve
undergraduate
This legislation also led to consumer protection in other instruction (by, for
areas, including food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, example, providing
tobacco products, firearms and ammunition, motor assistance to those
vehicles, pesticides, aircraft, boats and fixed site institutions that are
amusement rides. unable to afford
modern teaching
materials).
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6. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Reduce Hunger and Improve Nutrition Promoting Security and Health for the Elderly
Child Nutrition Act of 1966 Social Security Acts of 1935 and 1965
The Act was This was enacted in the throes of the Great Depression.
created as a The law got its title from the groundbreaking social
result of the insurance program designed to provide a steady income
years of for retired workers aged 65 or older.
cumulative
successful The act has been amended numerous times, and payroll
experience taxes grew to pay for it. In the 1950s, more people were
under the added to Social Security's beneficiary pool, and the
National School benefit was increased, including the first cost-of-living
Lunch Program allowance since 1940. In 1956, disability insurance was
to help meet the instituted. Early retirement for women at age 62 was
nutritional needs of children. The National School Lunch permitted. Payroll taxes hovered at four percent.
Program feeds 30.5 million children per day (as of 2007).
NSLP was operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit In 1965, the passage of the Social Security Act
private schools in 2007. The milk program, functioning Amendments, popularly known as Medicare, resulted in a
since 1954, was extended on June 30, 1970 and basic program of hospital insurance for persons aged 65
incorporated into the act. The act also provided Federal and older, and a supplementary medical insurance
funding assistance towards non-food purchases for school program to aid the elderly in paying health care bills. It
equipment. was funded by a tax
on the earnings of
The act established the School Breakfast Program, a employees, matched
federally assisted meal program that provides low-cost or by by employers,
free breakfasts to children in public and non-profit and was well
schools as well as child care institutions. During the received. In the first
signing of the act, the president remarked that “good three years of the
nutrition is essential to good learning.” program, nearly 20
million beneficiaries
enrolled in it.
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7. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Safe Food and Drinking Water Strengthen the Nation's Highway System
Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996 Interstate Highway Act of 1956
Congress presented the Environmental Protection Agency Popularly known as the
with an enormous challenge of implementing the most National Interstate and
comprehensive and historic overhaul of the Nation's Defense Highways Act,
pesticide and food safety laws in decades. the Federal-Aid
Highway Act of 1956
The Food Quality Protection Act amended the Federal established an
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and interstate highway
the Federal Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) by system in the United
fundamentally changing the way EPA regulates States. The movement
pesticides. behind the
construction of a
Some of the major transcontinental
requirements include highway started in the
stricter safety standards, 1930s when President
especially for infants and Franklin Roosevelt
children, and a complete expressed interest in
reassessment of all existing the construction of a
pesticide tolerances. This network of toll
web site provides superhighways that
background information on would provide more jobs for people in need of work
FQPA's provisions and during the Great Depression. But with America on the
discusses some of the verge of joining the war in Europe, the time for a massive
specific issues raised by highway program had not arrived. At the end of the war,
FQPA, as well as the law's the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 funded highway
implementation status. improvements and established major new ground by
authorizing and designating, the construction of 40,000
miles of a “National System of Interstate Highways.”
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8. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Civil Rights – Reducing Discrimination Marshall Plan: Rebuilding Europe after World War II
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Economic Recovery Act of 1948
This act, signed Better known as the Marshall Plan, this Act provided
into law by economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure
President of post-war Europe.
Lyndon Johnson
in 1964, When World War II ended in 1945, Europe lay in ruins: its
prohibited cities were shattered; its economies were devastated; its
discrimination in people faced famine. After the war, the Soviet Union’s
public places, control of Eastern Europe heightened the sense of crisis. To
provided for the meet this emergency, Secretary of State George Marshall
integration of proposed that Europe create a plan for their economic
reconstruction and that the United States provide economic
schools and other public facilities, and made employment
assistance. Over the next four years, Congress appropriated
discrimination illegal. The act outlawed segregation in
$13.3 billion for European recovery. This aid provided much
businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It needed capital and materials that enabled Europeans to
banned discriminatory practices in employment and rebuild the continent’s economy. For the US, the Marshall
ended segregation in public places such as swimming Plan provided markets for American goods, created reliable
pools, libraries, and public schools.This document was trading partners, and
the most sweeping civil rights legislation since supported the
Reconstruction. development of stable
democratic governments in
In a nationally televised address in 1963, President Western Europe. In short,
Kennedy urged the nation to take action toward the Marshall Plan re-
guaranteeing equal treatment of every American energized the economies
regardless of race. Soon after, Kennedy proposed that of both the United States
Congress consider civil rights legislation that would and Europe. Congress’s
address voting rights, public accommodations, school approval of the Marshall
desegregation, nondiscrimination in federally assisted Plan signaled an extension
programs, and more. Despite Kennedy’s assassination in of the bipartisanship of
November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil World War II into the
Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Johnson. postwar years.
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9. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
The Promise of Land Westward Expansion
The Homestead and Morrill Act of 1862 Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in
1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended
citizen, who had never taken arms against the U.S.
government could claim 160 acres of government land.
Claimants were required to “improve” the plot by
building a dwelling and cultivating the land. After 5 years
on the land, the original filer was entitled to the
property, free and clear, except for a small registration
fee.
The Morrill Act committed the Federal Government to
grant each state 30,000 acres of public land for each of
its Representatives and Senators in Congress. The Morrill
land grants laid the foundation for a national system of Considered to be one of the most significant
state colleges and universities. In some cases, the land achievements of the Congress of the Confederation, the
sales financed existing colleges; in others, new schools Northwest Ordinance of 1787 put the world on notice not
were created by the states. Major universities such as only that the land north of the Ohio River and east of the
Nebraska, Kentucky, Clemson, and Cornell were Mississippi would be settled, but that it would eventually
chartered as land-grant schools. State colleges brought become part of the United States. Until then this area
higher education had been temporarily forbidden to development.
within the reach of
millions of students, Increasing numbers of settlers and land speculators were
a development that attracted to what are now the states of Ohio, Indiana,
could not help but Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. This pressure together
reshape the nation’s with the demand from the Ohio Land Company, soon to
social and economic obtain vast holdings in the Northwest, prompted the
fabric. Congress to pass this Ordinance.
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10. Fantasy Congress: The Sweet Sixteen
Promise to American Veterans Women’s Suffrage
GI Bill of 1944 19th Amendment, 1920
This was a series of benefits for World War II veterans The 19th amendment
granted by the U.S. Congress under the Servicemen's guarantees all American women
Readjustment Act of 1944 and extended by later the right to vote. Achieving this
legislation. Administrated by the Veterans milestone required a lengthy
Administration, these benefits included educational and difficult struggle; victory
scholarships for college or vocational training, mortgage took decades of agitation and
loan guarantees for home buyers, and cash payments for protest. Beginning in the mid-
those unemployed after discharge. Between 1944 and 19th century, several
1949, nearly 9 million veterans received a total of $4 generations of woman suffrage
billion from the G.I. Bill's compensation program. supporters lectured, wrote,
marched, lobbied, and practiced
Benefits similar to the G.I. Bill would be extended to civil disobedience to achieve
veterans of the Korean War. Subsequently, the Veterans’ what many Americans
Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended such considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few
provisions to all who serve in the armed forces, even in early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.
peacetime. The
precedents established Between 1878, when the amendment was first introduced
by the G.I. Bill for in Congress, and August 18, 1920, when it was ratified,
federal aid to higher champions of voting rights for women worked tirelessly,
education would expand but strategies for achieving their goal varied. Some
over the course of the pursued a strategy of passing suffrage acts in each state—
Cold War. Totaling over nine western states adopted woman suffrage legislation
$14 billion, the bill was by 1912. Some suffragists used tactics such as parades
crucial to the expansion and hunger strikes. Often supporters met fierce
of the middle class. resistance. Opponents heckled, jailed, and sometimes
physically abused them.
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