Dependent and Disability Pension Act

E99532

The Dependent and Disability Pension Act was a landmark 1890 U.S. law that greatly expanded Civil War veterans’ pensions by granting benefits based on disability and dependency rather than solely on service-related injuries.


Statements (33)
Predicate Object
instanceOf United States federal law
pension law
aimedTo provide broader financial support to Union veterans and their families
shift pension policy toward disability and dependency criteria
appliesTo Union Civil War veterans
dependent relatives of Union Civil War veterans
disabled Union Civil War veterans
country United States
criterionForBenefits disability regardless of service connection
financial dependency
effect establishment of a quasi-universal pension for aging Union veterans
significant increase in federal pension rolls
expanded federal pension expenditures
number of Union veterans receiving pensions
scope of Civil War pension eligibility
focusesOn dependency-based benefits
disability benefits
veterans' pensions
historicalContext Gilded Age United States
historicalPeriod post–American Civil War era
influenced development of modern U.S. social welfare policies
legalBasisFor pensions for Union veterans with non-service-related disabilities
pensions for dependent parents of Union Civil War veterans
pensions for minor children of Union Civil War veterans
pensions for widows of Union Civil War veterans
partOf United States veterans benefits system
predecessorOf later 20th-century U.S. veterans disability programs
relatedTo Civil War pension system
Grand Army of the Republic
Republican Party veterans' policy in the late 19th century
replacedSystemBasedOn service-related injuries only
subjectOf historical studies of U.S. pension policy
scholarship on Civil War veterans and the welfare state

Referenced by (1)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Benjamin Harrison
signed

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