Significance

• The law granted a bankrupt farmer a five-year grace period, during which he retained possession of all farming-related assets. Additionally, farmers could stay on their farms by paying an annual rent, and they could repurchase their properties at any time during the five-year period.
  
  

Support and Opposition

• The Frazier-Lemke Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Roosevelt in 1934. However, the law was vehemently opposed by creditors, who saw it as giving farmers the opportunity to avoid paying their debts.
  
  

History

• The Supreme Court backed creditors and ruled the law unconstitutional in 1935 because it violated creditors' Fifth Amendment rights. That same year, Congress passed a revised vision of the law that reduced the period of time that farmers could stay on their property from five years to three years. The revised law passed Supreme Court review in 1937 and remained in effect until it finally expired in 1949.