The Arrears Act, signed by President Hayes in 1879, proved to be one of the more unheralded pieces of legislation in American history. It expanded a U.S. pension system designed to take care of the dependents of Union Army soldiers killed during the war as well as disabled soldiers. The expenditures of the Bureau of Pensions had peaked in the mid-1870s and gone into decline. The Arrears Act stimulated new growth, and President Hayes linked expenditures under the act to the home:
