Focus

The Supreme Court tried to overturn New Deal legislation in the 1930s, which led FDR to unsuccessfully attempt to add more justices to the court. This was seen as an attempt to defy checks and balances.

Review – Hand in on ½ sheet of paper for quiz grade

1. What was the difference between Hoover and Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression?

2. What was the overall purpose of the New Deal?

3. How did FDR deal with the banking crisis?

First New Deal (1933)

In first 100 days, many New Deal laws were passed to deal with the crisis

New Deal Programs

FDIC – protects people’s savings if banks close

New Deal Programs

SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

Made unethical practices in the stock market illegal, like buying stocks on margin

New Deal Programs

AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration)

The government paid farmers to limit production in order to raise prices

Do Now 1. How did Hoover and FDR differ in their

approach to ending the Depression?

2. How did FDR try to solve the banking crisis?

3. How did the New Deal try to reform the problems that led to the stock market crash?

The TVA built dams across the South that brought electricity to rural poverty-stricken areas

Relief agencies such as the CCC and WPA employed millions of Americans who did not want a handout from the government

Second New Deal (1935)

A new set of laws expanded the scope of New Deal reform

Social Security Act (1935) – old-age pension

National Labor Relations Act/Wagner Act (1935) – guarantees right of unions to collective bargaining

Do Now“First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to go into the forestry and flood-prevention work. This is a big task because it means feeding, clothing and caring for nearly twice as many men as we have in the regular army itself. In creating this we are killing two birds with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural resources, and we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual distress. This great group of men has entered upon its work on a purely voluntary basis; no military training is involved and we are conserving not only our natural resources, but our human resources. One of the great values to this work is the fact that it is direct and requires the intervention of very little machinery.” –FDR Fireside Chat, May 1933

Which New Deal program in your notes is this describing? How do you know?

Critics of the New Deal

The Supreme Court overturned many New Deal programs

They believed the New Deal got the gov’t too involved in the economy

Schecter Poultry v. U.S. (1935) – overturned NIRA, which set prices for many agricultural goods

U.S. v. Butler (1936) – declared the AAA unconstitutional

FDR’s Supreme Court Plan

1937 – FDR proposes to add a new justice for each one over 70 years old

Would replace many of his critics

The public rejected the plan

Thought FDR wanted too much power