Salary Grab Act

The Salary Grab Act was passed by the United States Congress on March 3, 1873. The effect of the Act was, the day before the second-term inauguration of President Ulysses S. Grant, to double the salary of the President (to $50,000) and the salaries of Supreme Court Justices. Hidden in the salary increases was also a 50% increase for members of Congress, retroactive to the beginning of their just-ending term. Public outcry led Congress to rescind the congressional salary increase. As a protest against the Act, Ohio ratified what would become the Twenty-seventh Amendment.