[2][3] The Act created a federal regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which it charged with monitoring railroads to ensure that they complied with the new regulations.

The act was passed in response to rising public concern with the growing power and wealth of corporations, particularly railroads, during the late nineteenth century.

"[6] With many of those questions of approach decided, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act the following year; it was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland on February 4, 1887.

Over time the courts would further narrow the agency's authority, and in 1903 Congress established the Department of Commerce and Labor and its Bureau of Corporations to study and report on wider industries and their monopolistic practices.

[12] The Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 strengthened ICC authority over railroad rates and expanded its jurisdiction to include regulation of telephone, telegraph, and cable companies.

The 4R Act also transferred some powers from the ICC to the newly formed United States Railway Association, a government corporation, regarding the disposition of bankrupt railroads.

[19] Congress abolished the ICC in 1995 (see Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act) and many of its remaining functions were transferred to a new agency, the Surface Transportation Board.