The Pros and Cons of Roosevelt's New Deal

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The era of the Great Depression was by far the worst shape the United States had ever been in, both economically and physically. Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932 and began to bring relief with his New Deal. In his first 100 days as President, sixteen pieces of legislation were passed by Congress, the most to be passed in a short amount of time. Roosevelt was re-elected twice, and quickly gained the trust of the American people. Many of the New Deal policies helped the United States economy greatly, but some did not. One particularly contradictory act was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was later declared unconstitutional by Congress. Many things also stayed very consistent in the New Deal. For example, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and Social Security, since Americans were looking for any help they could get, these acts weren't seen as a detrimental at first. Overall, Roosevelt's New Deal was a success, but it also hit its stumbling points. One of the most contradictory efforts of the New Deal was the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Through the AAA, Roosevelt proposed to pay farmers for cutting back on production or producing nothing at all. It was supposed to help increase farm prices by decreasing the supply. Now, the government had to deal with the existing surplus. The Roosevelt administration decided to destroy much of what had been already been produced, as to create a shortage so farm prices would increase. About six million pigs were slaughtered and ten million acres of cotton were destroyed. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace described the wholesale destruction of crops and livestock as "a cleaning up of the wreckage from the old days of unbalanced production.

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