Name:______________________________ Date: ________
U.S. History
Unit #7
The Great Depression
How did the New Deal change the
relationship of the American people
to their federal government?
Document A – Message to Congress
Document B – Fireside Chat photo
Document C – Share Our Wealth
Document D – Nose to Grindstone Cartoon
Document E – Stoddard Letter to FDR
Document F – New Deal Agencies Cartoon
Document G – Procter Letter to FDR
Document H – NRA Commentary
Document I – CCC Account
Document 1 – Calvin Coolidge Speech
Document 2 – Depression Graphs
Document 3 – Herbert Hoover Speech
Document 4 – FDR Campaign Speech
Document 5 – FDR Speech
Document 6 – Dr. New Deal Cartoon
Document 7 – Doubting Democrat Cartoon
Document 8 – Social Security
Document 9 – New Deal Agencies
Document 10 – Unemployment and Spending
Background Essay
The Great Depression of the ‘30s was a sudden and terrifying stock-market crash that exposed crucial
weaknesses in both American and global economies. Low prices from the over-production of the Great
War, the massive gap between the rich and poor, trade-crippling barriers, more consumer goods than
could be feasibly consumed, and a choked money supply pinned the American people. With President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt taking over after President Hoover―his name and reputation ripped to
shreds―FDR promised his people a New Deal to bring about much-needed hope. Despite being
unable to end the Great Depression, being heavily criticized, and even causing a small recession near
the end of the New Deal, the three R’s he focused on (relief, recovery, and reform) eased the
Depression for the American people and increased the federal government’s influence within the economy.
The First New Deal from 1933 to 1934 saw FDR in his days as a fledgling president and the
introduction of his famous Hundred Days. FDR flexed his arm in a show of executive power during
these first days in office establishing New Deal agencies such as the CCC, FERA, AAA, and the NRA.
These new agencies were received with varying degrees of acceptance. As shown in the Letter to
Senator Robert Wagner, agencies such as the National Recovery Administration created by the
National Industrial Recovery Act which sought to boost the economy as a whole were definitively
opposed. The NRA was set in place to improve the ways companies treated each other to stimulate
industrial production and increase prices to reduce the surplus of consumer goods. However, the letter
expresses its worry that “Washington is accelerating its[sic] pace towards socialism and communism. Nearly
every public state from Washington is against stimulation of business which would in the end create employment”.
Not only were FDR’s New Deal programs creating paranoid accusations of socialism, but also an increased
resentment for increased federal influence in economics. Such repugnance towards the NIRA and the
government’s increased role in the economy is reflected in Charles Evans Hughes majority opinion in
the case of Schechter v. United States (1935) in which he boldly declares that worker’s wages “have no
direct relation to interstate commerce” and that “the authority of the federal may not be pushed to such an
extreme”. The court itself finds that federal regulation of the economy was hardly significant. Such a
ruling indicates a legitimate threat to other New Deal endeavors. Furthermore, FDR’s usage of Keynesian
economic theory which touted the effectiveness of deficit spending to revive economies was rather illreceived by the end of the First New Deal as evidenced by William Lloyd Garrison, Jr. in “The Hand of
Improvidence” where he criticized the New Deal programs as “contradictory”, “assisted and retarded the recovery of
industrial activity”, adding “six billion dollars to the national debt”, and accused the usage of Keynesian
economics as a “plan of buying Utopia for cash”. Garrison’s criticism reflected a sentiment regarding
the outlandish and lack of pragmatism of the New Deal programs and the ineffectiveness people perceived
in the program’s contradictory attempts at recovery.
Despite heavy criticisms, FDR’s responses to the Great Depression also brought forth great relief. FDR’s
handling of the banks by passing Emergency Banking Relief Act, Glass-Steagall Reform Act, and holding fireside
chats over the radio
Document #6
According to this political cartoon, how did some people view the New Deal and government intervention into
the economic crisis?
Do you think the cartoonist expected Roosevelt’s remedies to work? Explain your answer
Document #7
Document #8
 What has been the long-term impact of Social Security?
Document #9
Selected New Deal Programs
 Which New Deal Programs continue to affect the lives of U.S. citizens?
Document #10
Write a 3-5 paragraph essay that answers the questions below. Be sure to use information
from the documents to support your answer.
 Discuss the response of the United States government to the Great
Depression. In your essay, explain how and why the government
response during the Depression is considered a turning point in the
federal government’s role in managing the economy.
 Were the New Deal programs effective in overcoming the Great
Depression and rebuilding the U.S. economy?
 How did the New Deal fundamentally change American’s relationship
with their federal government?