View source for Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936

{{Short description|United States federal law}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle        = Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936
| othershorttitles  = Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act act
| longtitle         = An Act to promote the conservation and profitable use of agricultural land resources by temporary Federal aid to farmers and by providing for a permanent policy of Federal aid to States for such purposes.
| colloquialacronym = 
| nickname          = 
| enacted by        = 74th
| effective date    = February 29, 1936
| public law url    = 
| cite public law   = {{uspl|74|461}}
| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|49|1148}}
| acts amended    = 
| acts repealed   = 
| title amended   = <!--US code titles changed-->
| sections created = <!--{{USC}} can be used-->
| sections amended = 
| leghisturl      = 
| introducedin    = Senate
| introducedbill  = {{USbill|74|S.|3780}}
| introducedby    = <!--sponsor(s)-->
| introduceddate  = January 30, 1936
| committees      = [[United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry|Senate Agriculture and Forestry]], [[United States House Committee on Agriculture|House Agriculture]]
| passedbody1     = Senate
| passeddate1     = February 15, 1936
| passedvote1     = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/74-2/s145 56-20]
| passedbody2     = House
| passedas2       = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation -->
| passeddate2     = February 21, 1936
| passedvote2     = [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/74-2/h147 267-97]
| conferencedate  = February 24, 1936
| passedbody3     = House
| passeddate3     = February 27, 1936
| passedvote3     = Agreed
| agreedbody3     = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreeddate3     = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreedvote3     = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee -->
| agreedbody4     = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| agreeddate4     = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| agreedvote4     = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation -->
| passedbody4     = Senate
| passeddate4     = February 27, 1936
| passedvote4     = Agreed
| signedpresident = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
| signeddate      = February 29, 1936 
| unsignedpresident = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->
| unsigneddate    = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing -->
| vetoedpresident = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| vetoeddate      = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenbody1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddendate1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenvote1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenbody2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddendate2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| overriddenvote2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto -->
| amendments      = 
| SCOTUS cases    = 
}}
The '''Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act''' {{USPL|74|461}}, enacted February 29, 1936) is a [[United States federal law]] that allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to conserve soil and prevent erosion.

== Legislative history==
The Act was passed in response to the [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]]'s declaration that the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] (AAA) was unconstitutional.<ref name="AAA">{{cite web |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/nba02 |title=Agricultural Adjustment Administration |publisher=Handbook of Texas Online - Texas State Historical Association |accessdate=July 28, 2013}}</ref> These two acts were passed as legislation in an attempt to cut crop and livestock surplus.<ref name="AAA" /> Originally, Congress enacted the Soil Conservation Act of 1935 {{USPL|74|46}}, {{usstat|49|163}} on April 27, 1935 in an attempt to address farm erosion problems by bringing within its policy and purposes, the improvements and preservation of national soil resources.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/ppotpus/4926313.1937.001/180 |title=The President Urges the Adoption by All the States of a Uniform Soil Conservation Law - February 26, 1937 |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |date=February 26, 1937 |website=University of Michigan Library Digital Collections |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |pages=102–104}}</ref> During the second session of the 74th Congress, the U.S. Congressional session amended the Soil Conservation Act of 1935 by passing {{USPL|74|461}} and renaming the legislation the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act with the express purpose of encouraging the use of soil resources in such a manner as to preserve and improve fertility, promote economic use, and diminish the exploitation and unprofitable use of the national soil resources.<ref name="S.rp.1481">S.rp.1481, 'Conservation and Utilization of the Soil Resources' Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. Senate, January 16, 1936.</ref> Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Act into law on February 29, 1936.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/4925988.1936.001.umich.edu/page/95 |title=A Presidential Statement on Signing the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act - March 1, 1936 |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |date=March 1, 1936 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |pages=95–102}}</ref>

== Provisions==
It meant to help with some of the problems with the previous Act, most notably its failure to protect sharecroppers and tenant farmers.  Landlords were now required to share the payments they received from the government for cutting back production with those who worked on their land. 

The Act also gave directives to conserve the soil in the "high plains"—soil that was being raised into huge dust bowls during the 1930s. This period, known as the [[Dust Bowl]], coupled with the economic hardships of the [[Great Depression]], hit farmers particularly hard. The act attempted to correct earlier government policy that encouraged farmers to use their land without concern to the repercussions. The result of these agricultural methods (mostly the way farmers plowed their land) made it vulnerable to the winds. The dry ground, now exposed, rose up to create the "black storms".

The Act both educated farmers on how to use their lands without damaging them, and took immediate action to contain the dust bowl's effects—notably by planting trees and native grass.

== See also ==
* [[Agriculture in the United States]]
* [[National Resources Board of 1934]]
* [[Timeline of environmental history]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book | author=Brinkley, Alan | title=American History: A Survey, Tenth Edition | url=https://archive.org/details/americanhistorys02brin | url-access=registration | publisher=McGraw-Hill College | year=1999 | isbn=0-07-303390-1}}

{{US farm acts}}

[[Category:1936 in American law]]
[[Category:New Deal legislation]]
[[Category:United States federal agriculture legislation]]
[[Category:Soil in the United States|United States]]
[[Category:United States federal environmental legislation]]
[[Category:1936 in the environment]]