We live in the historical period known as the information age. Everyone has information right at their fingertip, however, are they receiving the correct information? How do we know the information we are reading online is the best, and most current information. Consider the source of the information: is the information coming from someone’s blog or an academic paper, and cross-reference the sources. It can be an arduous task to complete a thorough search on a topic, but likely necessary if you want the entire truth. 

In the last post, we discussed The Bankruptcy Act of 1898 and its new focus on the wellbeing of debtors, rather than solely as a remedy for creditors. Previously, we had discussed the prior bankruptcy policies in America: the bankruptcy acts of 1800, 1841, 1867, and 1898. Let’s use this post to recap some of those policies and put them in context. 

In my last post, we discussed the first bankruptcy code in the United States, the Bankruptcy act of 1800; in this post we will turn to the second incarnation, The Bankruptcy Act of 1841. Clearly, congress was not interested in creative nomenclature. Nonetheless, there were other improvements in the content of the new code. First, debtors could now file bankruptcy for themselves, voluntarily. Second, bankruptcy was available to individuals rather than just merchants. Third, the more informal processes utilizing administrators was left behind in favor of using the district courts.