The Oleomargarine Act | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives
On this date, the 49th Congress (1885–1887) set in motion an era of commercial regulation by passing the Oleomargarine Act which defined the very essence of butter and imposed a two-cent per pound tax on oleomargarine, a butter substitute made from animal fat. The law, which President Grover Cleveland signed 10 days later, came after months of debate over whether the federal government could (or should) regulate…