The act provided pensions for all veterans who had served at least ninety days in the Union military or naval forces, were honorably discharged from service and were unable to perform manual labor, regardless of their financial situation or when the disability occurred.
In 1862, a basic system was established which granted pensions to soldiers who could provide proof of time spent in the military and a disability incurred while in service.
[2] It was in part the Arrears Act that politically reinvigorated the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization consisting mostly of Union veterans.
[6] Second, it required applicants to prove that they were financially dependent on another source, a feature that was absent from the final version of the bill passed in 1890.
[5][7] Although many lawmakers expected Cleveland to sign the bill, he instead vetoed it on February 11, infuriating the GAR and ensuring that pensions would be a central issue in the 1888 election.
Cleveland's primary objections to the bill were that it would be extremely costly, that determining the extent to which applicants were dependent on others would be too difficult,[8] that the pension was ungraded and that the system would be abused by fraud.
The Republican Party nominated Civil War veteran Benjamin Harrison to run against the incumbent Cleveland, promising to push for more extensive pensions and winning the support of the GAR in the process.
Although there was widespread corruption under Tanner and his successor Green Raum, Congress continued moving toward legislation aimed at expanding the federal pension program.