Emergency Banking Act (1933)

1) Link to the Text of the Act
Read the statute (12 U.S.C. § 95)

2) Why It Was Done
Passed during the Great Depression after a banking panic, the Act gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt emergency powers to stabilize the financial system, reopen banks, and restrict gold transactions.

3) Pre-existing Law or Constitutional Rights
Prior banking laws had no mechanism for nationwide bank closures or emergency authority. The Act temporarily curtailed private property rights in gold to protect the financial system.

Glass–Steagall Act (Banking Act of 1933)

1) Link to the Text of the Act
Read the statute (12 U.S.C. §§ 24, 78, 377, 378)

2) Why It Was Done
Enacted during the Great Depression, the Act aimed to restore trust in the financial system by separating commercial and investment banking and creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

3) Pre-existing Law or Constitutional Rights
Before this Act, banks could engage in both deposit-taking and speculative investment, contributing to the 1929 stock market crash. The Act imposed structural restrictions on banks but did not directly override constitutional rights.

Gold Reserve Act (1934)

1) Link to the Text of the Act
Read the statute (31 U.S.C. §§ 5116–5118)

2) Why It Was Done
Passed in the aftermath of the Great Depression and following the Emergency Banking Act of 1933, this Act transferred ownership of all monetary gold to the U.S. Treasury and gave the federal government control over gold reserves. It also authorized the President to devalue the dollar relative to gold.