The Activist Federal Government

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“The issue of government has always been whether individual men and women will have to serve some system of government or economics, or whether a system of government or economics exists to serve individual men and women…(p135,doc1)”. Since 1776 when our Declaration of Independence was signed, the government’s involvement in the peoples lives, domestically and internationally has always been a controversial issue. Since then, an activist federal government has had a positive effect and managed to supplement our economy in two major ways; one that enlarged the job market and two, minimized the level of poverty within our nation. International trade has always been the secret to a powerful economy, and with the rise of industrialism and our middle position between tensions of foreign nations we had to decide how much our (until recently) “hands off” government should intervene.

The Americans were plagued with fatigue, underemployment, hunger, and depression at the start of the 1930’s, still recuperating from the stock market crash of ’29 and the non-involvement policies of a non-activist government. Rich or poor, no one escaped from the throws of debt, and led the public to search for a solution in Government that would give them a sympathetic friend and guide. That solution became Franklin Roosevelt, who on the campaign trail, reached out to the working class, and used his words not only to inspire the people, but offered efforts of relief with his “New Deal.” The New Deal gave hope to restore employment and to regulate wages, hours, and working conditions.

Winning a landslide election in 1933, Roosevelt declared in his inauguration speech that, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.(p860)” As a man who was willing to try anything, he immediately presented his New Deal, which was his first attempt to amend the depression by giving immediate relief (social security), recovery (economic), and reform (structural). This was an extremely positive achievement for the overwhelmed administration. Roosevelt’s New Deal ensured that America would never secede into another depression again. In the first 100 days, five legislations went into effect that began America’s relief. The Emergency Banking Act involved first, Roosevelt closing every bank, calling it a “bank holiday” to inspect each one to ensure that they were stable. After declaring the bank stable, the government authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to supply funds (p862). This was significant because people had been withdrawing their funds because the declining market and banks weren’t able to supply loans that would increase the money flow.

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