New Deal Dbq

The New Deal was a significant factor in American history from 1933-1942 as it was the start to the government in changing social problems in America. During Roosevelt’s administration, the number of African Americans working in government agencies had increased by three times. By mid 1935, the were 45 African Americans working in many New Deal agencies and federal government agencies. In this way, the New Deal was effective in changing social problems in America as African Americans were usually discriminated or were not given much attention.

However The New Deal had its limitations in helping African Americans, it did not eliminate discrimination or segregation in wages, employment, and working condition that plagued so many African Americans

during the difficult years after the depression. Other than that, many women achieved prominent positions during The New Deal, for example, Eleanor Roosevelt also became an important campaigner for social reform only 8,000 women were employed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) out of the 2.75 million that were involved in this scheme. Women also had much lower wages than white men as the Economy Act of 1933 stated that only one member of the family can work in the government. This meant that women would be losing their jobs because women had to take care of the family. This suggests that the New Deal was not a significant factor in solving women and black rights as it did little to improve the wages and working environments for these people. 3‘The Administration did not do enough to tackle discrimination and segregation which relegated the blacks to ‘inferior public facilities and stopped them from having a voice’. Blacks remained poor and excluded from the society. Other than that, there was also a town in Tennessee that excluded African Americans from entering. The National Industry Recovery Act codes of 1933 also required women to be paid less than men. In significance, The New Deal did little to improve social problems in America.

The New Deal also managed to solve many important factors such as unemployment during the crash. The Alphabet Agencies managed to provide work for millions, making unemployment fall from 24.9 million in 1933 to 14.3 million four years later. However, The Alphabet Agencies only manage to provide short-term jobs. The New Deal was only able to solve unemployment temporarily as after their term ended, the unemployment rate raised by 3million in 1938. In the New Deal’s efforts to solve unemployment, The New Deal was also able to build new dams, roads, school and hospitals at the same time, this would be vital once the USA had recovered from the crash. The Supreme Court also declared the National Recovery Administration (NRA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to help with the recovery of the economy and helping the poor in 1933. The WPA 5‘addressed the persistent problem of unemployment’ as it provided needed jobs by building schools, hospitals and also provided employment schemes for actors, artists and writers. Some labour unions combined forces to form the Committee for Industrial Organisation (CIO) in 1935 to bargain with large corporations to employ them. However, many people last their jobs due to the rule that only allowed one member of the family to work for the federal government in 30th March 1933. However unemployment would not be solved as Maldwyn A.Jones from the Limits of Liberty:American History stated, 1‘not until 1941 would full employment and prosperity return, and only then because of the war and rearmament.’

Economically, The New Deal was a significant factor to a large extent. Many people became unemployed as a result to the Wall Street Crash. The New Deal managed to tackle large problems such as poverty by providing jobs to increase employment and introducing new agencies to help with employment such as the Civilian Conservation Corps CCC and the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA. The agencies were given almost $500 million to help thousands of Americans who were homeless, and unemployed, struggling to survive. This money was also provided to help rebuild schools, shelters and fund employment schemes. As a result of the New Deal, many unions like the American Federation of Labour (AFL)’s positions were strengthened and were forced to negotiate with corporations.

Roosevelt’s main focus was to regain the people’s confidence in banks. He managed to order all banks to close down in March 9th 1933, until government officials had checked them over. At that moment, Roosevelt’s advisers had to stop speculation that had contributed with the Wall Street Crash which later came up with a set of rules and regulations which set apart commercial banks from securities markets. Roosevelt called this the Emergency Banking Act, Securities Exchange and the Glass-Steagall Act. At the end of 1933, more than 4000 small banks were closed permanently and were merged into bigger banks and resulted in the deposit of $1 billion USD as the confidence in banks boosted, the act recognised inherent risks in securities markets and prevented banks from serving as brokerages. Following the banking bill, Roosevelt used the radio for the first of his "Fireside Chats" in 1933, which were broadcasted through the radio and television within which he confidently reassured the American people that their banks were once again safe.

These ‘Fireside Chats’ reassured the public the government was trying to fix the depression, it helped to regain the peoples trust in banks after the depression. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), was set up make large economical changes, increasing farmers profits by paying them to grow less crops to avoid overgrowing and increasing the price of crops. Because of this, many corn fields were burnt away and over 6million pigs were killed to increase the value of farm products. Before this act was introduced in 1933, the farmers union leader stated, 9“Unless something is done for the American farmer we will have a revolution in the countryside within less than 12 months”. In conclusion, the government took many actions to solve social issues to make the New Deal a significant factor in changing economical problems by providing multiple agencies to make economical changes in 1933-42.

Speculation and individual manipulation of the stock market was a significant factor in causing the depression as it caused an unfair distribution of wealth in society. This problem was solved by issuing the Emergency Banking Crisis in 1933 and Security Exchange Commission in 1934. The Securities Exchange Commission provided a framework which tacked speculation by no allowing insider dealing and banning the purchasing of shares ‘on the margin’. In conclusion, The New Deal was a large factor in changing economical problems in American History as it helped the country recover economically by having the government interfere with businesses and providing jobs during an economic turbulence in American History.

Politically, The New Deal managed to cover many problems faced during the depression.

Firstly, the government was largely involved in terms of the economy, for example, governments began to be involved in banking, providing social security, job creations and labour relations after the New Deal was implemented. The New Deal managed to help the country recover economically by providing more government interference to the economy. However, Roosevelt was limited to making large changes in the country because a large portion of the supreme court was taken up by Roosevelt’s oppositions. This lead to many disagreements and problems left unresolved, the role of the supreme court in the New Deal was unhelpful because it only managed to delay and interfere with the decisions that Roosevelt made.

Another reason why the government was a significant factor in American History was how quickly Roosevelt managed to tackle problems and pass different laws and measures. One example of how Roosevelt managed to solve a problem quickly was The Hundred Days. In the first hundred days of Roosevelt’s presidency, Roosevelt went straight into action by having an inauguration of the banks as he ordered all the banks to close down until government officials had checked them over, he managed to pass this measure in only five days as Roosevelt regained the people’s confidence in

banks.

Yet another reason why the New Deal was a significant factor in American History was because Roosevelt immediately changed the political system of the country by implementing the New Deal in 1933, which was completely different from President Hoover’s laissez faire system which was a major turning point for the country as it involved the government to be involved in solving the countries problems instead of allowing the people to fix their own problems. As a result, The New Deal was more significant as the laissez faire system was seen to turn the poor to extremist powers such as communism. There was also very little outcome of the laissez faire system as nothing really changed during that time.

The New Deal also prevented America from being ruled by extremist powers as it allowed the government to help its people to recover from the economic crisis. The New Deal helped people by changing the laissez faire economy system of allowing people to fix their own problems, and leading to people resort to extremist powers such as communists and fascists. This is a significant factor in American History as the New Deal managed to prevent a fall of the democratic system by providing political interference with the people of America. Overall, The New Deal was extremely significant in the political side as it managed to regain the people’s confidence in its government and preventing its people turning to an extremist party.

To conclude, the New Deal was a significant factor in American History to a certain extent because it managed to tackle large problems during the great depression in 1929. The New Deal managed to do solve most social problems however some actions taken were not as affective. Economically, the New Deal did well in regaining the people’s confidence in banks and solving unemployment, however not permanently as most agencies were made to solve unemployment for a short period of time. The New Deal was most significant in solving political problems as it prevented the democratic system from collapsing and prevented the country from turning to extremists powers such as communism and fascists leaders by introducing the involvement of government agencies to help with the recovery of the depression, as seen in Hugh Brogan’s The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century 2‘as the depression deepened, they did not entirely despair or turn to communism’. These are all significant problems that the new deal managed to solve by providing the people with welfare which made it significant in shaping history for America.