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Progress update: Still very much under construction, but taking shape.
Outline |
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< | I'm looking at quarantine laws between roughly 1880 and 1900, to see how the States and federal government worked together.
This era spans several epidemics (yellow fever and cholera), and the creation of a federal body (the National Board of Health).
I'm curious why it failed.
First, this source is wrong. The Board was initially enacted with a sunset clause to expire in 1883, and was revived by repeal of this sunset clause in early 1883 due to its excellent performance.
My time frame ends with the creation of the first successful federal quarantine laws. |
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> | I'm looking at quarantine laws between the late 1870s and the first decade of the 20th Century, to see how the States and federal government worked together in the area of public health. This timeframe spans several epidemics (yellow fever and cholera), and the creation of a federal body (the National Board of Health). |
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> | The Board initially came into existence through an Act in 1879 with a sunset clause to expire in 1883. It was revived by repeal of this sunset clause in early 1883 due to its excellent performance. But after 1885, Board failed. I'm curious why it failed. My time frame ends with the creation of the first successful federal quarantine laws. |
| | Background: Disease and Quarantine in the Late 19th Century |
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< | The 19th Century overall brought with it groundbreaking advances in medical science. Pasteur's initially radical germ theory was beginning to be accepted in the medical and public health literature by the timeframe in this project, although not universally (here is a review of its impact in Massachusetts in the early 1870s). The literature around this time reflects great hope for rapid scientific advancement in many areas including disease origins and nature. There were hot debates both about the validity of new discoveries, and how these could best be translated into frameworks for prevention and remedy. The mood was generally optimistic: 'it is believed that the country was never in better condition to resist the progress of epidemics than it is at the present time' declared the National Board of Health's Annual report for 1885. A broad movement for public health had begun in Great Britain around the 1850s, and was slowly taking off in America, with interest turning to sewers and school hygiene. Later within in my chosen time period, the introduction of publicly provided childhood vaccinations began. |
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> | The 19th Century overall brought with it groundbreaking advances in medical science. Pasteur's initially radical germ theory was beginning to be accepted in the medical and public health literature by the beginning of the timeframe in this project, although not universally (here is a review of its impact in Massachusetts in the early 1870s). The literature around this time reflects great hope for rapid scientific advancement in many areas including disease origins and nature. There were hot debates both about the validity of new discoveries, and how these could best be translated into frameworks for prevention and remedy. A broad movement for public health had begun in Great Britain around the 1850s, and was slowly taking off in America, with interest turning to sewers and school hygiene. Later within in my chosen time period, the introduction of publicly provided childhood vaccinations began. |
| | Quarantine measures, a very old disease prevention technology, were being updated to reflect new understandings of the mechanics of infection. Good examples of this were in relation to cholera (which had recently been discovered to be transmitted from feces-contaminated water). See eg The Sanitarium, 1894, pp 3-4 |
| | Clashes over funding were ongoing. In 1881, the annual report reveals that the Board received only 1/3 of the funds it wanted to build new quarantine stations in Virginia, Georgia and Texas (link). |
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< | Both Links in table below.
1) "An act to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases into the United States, and to establish a national board of health" 45th Congress, Session III, 1879 20 Stat 484. Although I scanned this in, google books has a publication called the Sanitarian from 1894 that is clearer, and contains the bill text at page 230.
2) "An act granting additional quarantine powers and imposing additional duties upon the Marine Hospital Service" 27 Stat 449 Ch 114, 52nd Congress, approved February 15 1893. Section 9 of this Act repeals the 1879 act above. |
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> | The mood was generally optimistic: 'it is believed that the country was never in better condition to resist the progress of epidemics than it is at the present time' declared the National Board of Health's Annual report for 1885. |
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< | -- EmilyByrne - 13 Nov 2009 |
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Court Response |
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> | Acts
Both Links in table below.
1) "An act to prevent the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases into the United States, and to establish a national board of health" 45th Congress, Session III, 1879 20 Stat 484. Although I scanned this in, google books has a publication called the Sanitarian from 1894 that is clearer, and contains the bill text at page 230.
2) "An act granting additional quarantine powers and imposing additional duties upon the Marine Hospital Service" 27 Stat 449 Ch 114, 52nd Congress, approved February 15 1893. Section 9 of this Act repeals the 1879 act above. |
| | Odds and (dead) ends |