The Theodore Roosevelt Administration
Aldrich-Vreeland Act
1908

Public sentiment following the Panic of 1907 favored major banking reform to halt the nation’s long history of bank panics.

The hastily prepared Aldrich-Vreeland measure provided short-term aid to ease the ongoing credit crunch. The legislation allowed national banks to issue notes on a wider range of securities than previously allowed. The effect of that liberalization of policy was to put more money into circulation.

Recognizing that a long-term solution to the economic ills was a complex issue, Congress created a National Monetary Commission to study the matter in depth. A report was not issued until 1912 and not acted upon until the Wilson administration. In 1913, Congress passed the landmark Owen-Glass Act, which created the Federal Reserve System, an attempt to correct many of the ills evident in the succession of bank panics.

See other Theodore Roosevelt domestic activity.

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