Jones Act

The term Jones Act may refer to one of several federal laws in the United States:

  • The Jones Act (Philippines) was a 1916 statute sponsored by Representative William Atkinson Jones that provided the Philippine Islands a "more autonomous government" to prepare the territory for independence.
  • The Jones-Shafroth Act or Jones Act (Puerto Rico) was a 1917 statute sponsored by Representative William Atkinson Jones, which concerned the government of Puerto Rico and conferred U.S. citizenship on Puerto Ricans.
  • The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 is a 1920 statute sponsored by Senator Wesley L. Jones of Washington, governing the workers compensation rights of sailors and the use of foreign vessels in domestic trade.
  • The Increased Penalties Act of 1929, known as the Jones-Stalker Act or the Jones Act of 1929, increased penalties for the violation of Prohibition.

Famous quotes containing the words jones and/or act:

    “I have never had a vote, and I have raised hell all over this country. You don’t need a vote to raise hell! You need convictions and a voice!”
    —Mother Jones (1830–1930)

    “I wish my countrymen to consider that whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can ever commit the least act of injustice against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it. A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length even become the laughing-stock of the world.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)