As our young nation grew in size, population and technology after the Civil War, the issues between the states began to over burden the committees of Congress. The development of the telegraph and the railroads raised questions of where to solve disputes between the
states. Finally the Supreme Court urged Congress to create a federal agency to manage problems between the farmers and the railroads over the transportation of grain across state lines. The Interstate Commerce Commission was the first federal bureaucracy with judicial, executive and legislative powers to function within the boundaries of it enabling
legislation established by an act of Congress and signed into law by the President. The development of the modern administrative state, i.e. the swamp, followed the same statutory format leaving little control over these fire and forget agencies. In effect the pattern which created the permanent fourth branch of government operates with little oversight. When the cats away, the mice will play.