Question

Essay Question: How did the role and responsibilities of the federal government change during the Progressive Era and the New Deal?

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Answer 1

There are many historians who see President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies as the start of the federal government's social welfare system. There were many people who had no employment during the Great Depression; the result was deprivation and hunger for their families. The New Deal programs were a series of national programs such as the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which supplied $500 million for government and town relief activities, and the Civil Works Administration, which supplied localities with resources to run "make-work" employment, jobs developed to offer people something to do in order to obtain pay.

These new elements of the Roosevelt government are still operating today, with the exception of the WPA. Thus, during the Depression, the federal government was significantly extended to assist local governments and their citizens. Ironically, both conservatives and liberals criticized Roosevelt. On the conservative hand, individuals felt the government was interfering with what was supposed to be laissez-faire competition rather than a government-controlled economy; on the other hand, individuals thought the state was not doing enough to assist individuals.

The federal government's function altered tremendously during the Great Depression. The federal government had done little or nothing to assist individuals financially before the Depression hit. This was not seen as something that should be done by the government. There has been a shift in this perception with the Depression. The New Deal of President Roosevelt made government accountable for many ways of assisting individuals. These methods varied from guaranteeing that they would not lose cash they had deposited in banks (FDIC) to ensuring that after they retired (Social Security) they would have cash to live on.

The New Deal has generally given rise to a new position for government, in which the government has done much more to assist people financially

However, the New Deal has only been partly effective. In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled against several New Deal projects, leading a frustrated Roosevelt to suggest that the Supreme Court should be extended to as many as fifteen judges (a political mistake that would haunt him for the remainder of his career).Despite the lofty dreams of the New Deal, the United States only fully recovered from the Great Depression because of the huge depression.