When Congress Mattered

Via Mark Thoma, Economic Principles looks at the most important legislation in U.S. History.  Some of my favorites are the early ones:

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787.  Originally enacted by the Confederation Congress, the measure incorporated the lands west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio River, provided for creation of new states (no fewer than three, or more than five), set aside land for public schools, and, at the last moment, banned slavery from the territory.
The Louisiana Land Purchase Ratification of 1803.  When Napoleon, defeated by rebels in Haiti and hard at war with the British, offered to sell not just New Orleans but French claims to land west of the Mississippi River, President Thomas Jefferson accepted with alacrity.  A special session of Congress quickly ratified the deal.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Illinois Sen. Stephen Douglas wanted to facilitate the building of a transcontinental railroad west from Chicago. To attract support from delegations of the Southern states, he sought to overturn the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had extended slavery to that state but banned its further spread. The measure passed, leaving the slavery question to “popular sovereignty” in each state, precipitating events that led to the Civil War – “bloody Kansas,” Harpers Ferry and all that.
The Homestead Act of 1862 and the Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862, passed without controversy in the first months of the Civil War, greatly stimulated the westward expansion by selling off vast tracts of public land to build railroads and canals, establishing colleges and universities throughout the West, and creating 1.7 million homestead farms outside the South in the next twenty years.

It's hard to argue with the significance of those 5.  With the announcement of the failure of the "supercommittee," it is hard to believe that Congress used to be relevant to the governance of the country.  I believe Barack Obama has provided Congress with the opportunity to hold up its duties under the Constitution, but they have failed.  With that 9% approval rating, people recognize how terrible Congress is.  Looking at the representatives in Congress for Western Ohio, it is pretty easy to see why that approval rating is where it's at.  Yeah, I'm looking at you, John Boehner and Jim Jordan.