New Deal Dbq

In October of 1929, there was a stock market crash bigger than the American people had ever experienced before. The crash was caused by speculation and buying stocks on margin. Once the stockholders realised that the prices were inflated, they tried to get out and sell. This caused the stock market to lose six-sevenths of its original value (Fischer 3/16). Since the stockholders were buying on margin, they lost everything they had when the prices fell. The stock market crash was one of the major causes of the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, the American people were struggling. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President at the time, had a plan to help the people. He called his plan the New Deal. Ultimately, the New Deal was successful

During the Great Depression, people and families were struggling to get by. Unemployment was at an all time high and poverty struck many Americans. Martha Gellhorn traveled to North Carolina and documented the effect the Great Depression was having on families. She wrote, “it seems like people were degenerating before your eyes” and “ The price of food has risen, it’s getting cold and they have no clothes”(Gellhorn 166). The American people needed help and the New Deal was like a helping hand guiding them back on track. With programs such as the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the second Agricultural Adjustment Act, and Social Security, the government was able to redistribute the wealth in the economy. Huey Long, the governor of Louisiana, fought hard for redistribution of wealth to protect Americans from economic misery and insecurity. Long believed that people with wealth were obligated to share it with people who needed it (Long 175). Working people’s letters were also wrote to New Dealers concerning wages, hours, and working conditions. They wrote, “we don’t make enough to live on and pay our just and honest debts” and “ I can’t see for my life why a man must toil and work his life out in such factories for a small scum of 15-35 cents”(J.G. 171). The people cried out and FDR heard them. FDR created programs in the New Deal such as the Civilian Conservation Corps Act, the

When Martha Gellhorn traveled to North Carolina, she noticed that in every household there was a picture of the President. “ What is keeping them sane, keeping them going on and hoping, is their belief in the President” (Gellhorn 166). FDR and the New Deal stood for change and gave the American people hope. “Though everything else fails, he is there, and will not let them down” (Gellhorn 166). A letter to FDR stated, “I know you are the one and only President that ever helped a working class of people” (J.G. 171). A hidden effect of the Great Depression is that it brought people closer together. The people shared the same problems and felt united, all working together to achieve a common goal. Jose Flores, a Mexican-American farm worker spoke on the importance of sticking together. He said, “only by sticking together could we obtain a gain”(Flores 178). The New Deal encouraged unions and banding together with the Wagner