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The New Deal Dbq

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The New Deal Dbq
The New Deal that aimed to provide support for Americans included and excluded many different catergories of people. Benefits of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 only helped property-owning farmers, while tenants and sharecroppers continued to suffer. In a letter to Secretatry of Labor Frances Perkins in 1937, ordinary Americans state: “Why should they [the landowners] get more when they don’t pay their white and black slaves more” (Foner, VOF, 159). The letter also describes the inadaquate conditions of sugar cane tenants as they struggle with their $4.00 per week wages. In addition, the AAA policies also resulted in the removal of thousands of tenants and sharecroppers. Other policies under the Second New Deal like how “the federal …show more content…
Roosevelt did not manage to end the Great Depression, he did live up to his promise as he made every effort to provide “every man… a right to make a comfortable living” (Foner, GML, 810) through the New Deal. The goal of the first New Deal was on economic recovery and relief. The first New Deal did live up to its promise as banks were recovered. As stated by Foner, “not a single bank failed in the United States [in 1936]” (Foner, GML, 813). Although tenants and sharecroppers were often excluded from the benefits, the first New Deal also improved America’s algriculture through the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. Additionally, the first New Deal provided jobs for millions of Americans through programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps. President Roosevelt even made efforts to reassure the public through his fireside chats. In one of the chats, he announces that, “...we are moving forward to greater freedom, to greater security for the average man than he hasever known before in the history of America” (Foner, GML, 830). The goal of the second New was on reforming the system and producing economic security to protect Americans from umemployment and poverty. Like the first, the second New Deal also lived up to its promise. The Works Progress Administration managed to support the umemployment and created jobs for many others. Most importantly, Roosevelt kept his promise by creating the Social Security Act during the second New Deal that provided aid for the elderly, disabled, and the unemployed. The Wagner Act of 1935 also provided protection to the labor force and was responsible for the growth of labor movements. While one can argue that the New Deal did not live up to its promise because it did not provide economic recovery and security for all Americans, it is still crucial to consider how Roosevelt, through the New Deal, did create jobs for millions of Americans and provided a new foundation for America’s economy and the federal

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