New Deal Dbq

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At his inauguration on March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) delivered one of his most famous lines to the American people. He told them “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself .” In the middle of the Great Depression, millions of Americans feared the years to come. Most were out of work and living a very little. FDR wanted to change that and bring back the prosperity of previous years. As a matter of fact, once in office, he quickly started to fix the economy and get Americans back to work. In the same vein, the legislation rolled out in the following eight years became known as the New Deal, which contained the three Rs, relief, recovery, and reform. Some aspects were successful, while others failed to deliver. The first …show more content…

In his second year, FDR introduced the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act. It was designed to lift the export trade of the U.S. out of its depression and reverse traditionally high protective tariffs. It amended the Hawley-Smoot law instead of a whole tax revision. It lowered tariffs with other countries in the hopes that they would do the same3. Later the next year, a sympathetic Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act. This law created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It was pro-union and helped workers negotiate through collective bargaining or the process of getting better wages, hours, working conditions through your union instead of separately3. It was a milestone of the U.S. labor movement. Along the same lines, the Fair Labor Standards Act established a minimum wages and maximum number of hours people in interstate commerce industries could work. It also outlawed children under the age of sixteen being able to work3. Reform acts were just one part of the New …show more content…

The U.S. had been in the Great Depression for roughly four years and the economy showed no signs of being revived. Once in office, Roosevelt started his New Deal Program designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform so the country could get back on its feet and not experience another depression. Relief legislation included the Emergency Banking Relief Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Federal Emergency Relief Act. The National Industrial Recovery Act, the Glass-Steagall Banking Legislation, and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) comprised the recovery aspect. Finally, there was the reforms, which included the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, the Wagener Act (also known as the National Labor Relations Act), and the Fair Labor Standards Act. While there were many successful pieces of legislation, there were a few failures. The CWA was one. It provided no longer term fix for the low employment

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