Replication data for: Measuring Significant Legislation, 1877 to 1948

Replication data and code forthcoming In this study, we provide a measure of legislative output that can be used to characterize outcomes of the lawmaking process across time. We summarize our efforts to identify the 21,741 public statutes passed between 1877 (45th Congress) and 1948 (80th Congress). In so doing we collect both statute-level descriptive information and the assessments of several scholars and chroniclers who identify enactments of note during this time period. Using this massive data collection we can characterize and assess congressional lawmaking activity across a period spanning the Populist, Progressive, and New Deal Eras as well as the two world wars