Editing Interstate Commerce Commission (section)

==Creation==
The ICC was established by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which was signed into law by President [[Grover Cleveland]].<ref>United States. Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, {{USStatute|49|104|24|379|1887|02|04}}.</ref> The creation of the commission was the result of widespread and longstanding anti-railroad agitation. Western farmers, specifically those of the [[Grange movement|Grange Movement]], were the dominant force behind the unrest, but Westerners generally — especially those in rural areas — believed that the railroads possessed economic power that they systematically abused. A central issue was rate discrimination between similarly situated customers and communities.<ref name="Sharfman">{{cite book |title=Railway Regulation |last=Sharfman |first=I. Leo |year=1915 |publisher=[[LaSalle Extension University]] |location=Chicago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-pCAAAAIAAJ&q=roosevelt&pg=PR1 }}</ref>{{rp|42ff}} Other potent issues included alleged attempts by railroads to obtain influence over [[Local government in the United States|city]] and [[State governments of the United States|state]] governments and the widespread practice of granting free transportation in the form of yearly passes to opinion leaders (elected officials, newspaper editors, ministers, and so on) so as to dampen any opposition to railroad practices.

Various sections of the Interstate Commerce Act banned "personal discrimination" and required shipping rates to be "just and reasonable."

President Cleveland appointed [[Thomas M. Cooley]] as the first chairman of the ICC. Cooley had been Dean of the [[University of Michigan Law School]] and Chief Justice of the [[Michigan Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cooley.edu/about/thomas_mcintyre_cooley.html |title=Thomas McIntyre Cooley; 1824-1898 |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Thomas M. Cooley Law School |publisher=Western Michigan University |location=Lansing, MI |access-date=2017-02-25 |archive-date=2017-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227131913/http://www.cooley.edu/about/thomas_mcintyre_cooley.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>