The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was established in 1887 to regulate surface transportation in the United States as a response to market manipulation and control of railroads during the American Industrial Revolution. The ICC was the first regulatory commission in U.S. history, but from 1887 until 1906 it had little control over the transportation industry. Vague wording in the initial legislation and lack of enforcement power limited the commission’s effectiveness. With the passage of the Hepburn Act in 1906, the ICC’s functions and power grew, giving the commission control over interstate railroads, trucking, bus lines, freight forwarders, water carriers, oil pipelines, transportation brokers, and express agencies. The ICC was allowed to set prices for interstate transportation and, like public utility commissions, to determine fair rates of return for industry firms. In the 1950s and 1960s, the ICC oversaw the consolidation of railroad systems and enforcement of desegregation in public-transportation systems. Beginning in the 1970s, government regulation of interstate transportation declined. With the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, the ICC’s control over the trucking industry was diminished, and subsequent legislation reduced its control over railroads, bus lines, and other transportation markets. The ICC’s decline was one of the first steps in the movement away from government regulation of business. The commission was eliminated in 1995, and some ICC functions were conveyed to the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, while others were transferred to the newly created National Surface Transportation Board.