The American stock market, until October 29, 1929, was continuously rising. The stock market was doing great, because stocks were allowed to be bought on margin and many people could afford to do that. But this all failed on October 29, 1929 when the stock market completely crashed forever known afterward as “Black Tuesday”. Because there was no government help with money, people literally went broke. There was no government safety net to assist the people and the unemployment rate was up to about 25%.
President Roosevelt took office in 1933 on the promise that he would experiment with bold new programs for economic and social reform. 1932 and 1933 were the worst years of the Great Depression therefore after Roosevelt took office for the next "8 years the government instituted a series of experimental projects and programs, known as the New Deal, that aimed to restore some measure of dignity and prosperity to many Americans” (history.com)
The first hundred days of Roosevelt’s were very influential on the country and were the beginning of the quest to repeal the horrors of the Great Depression. On March 9, 1933, the first of the New Deal policies was put into place, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, this act reorganized the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent. The closing of banks woke many Americans up, this meaning, three days after Congress passed this act the president urged Americans to put their savings back in the banks and by the end of the month almost three quarters of them reopened. (history.com)
The next problem Roosevelt wanted to attack to end the Great Depression was to end prohibition, congress ratified the 21st amendment which ended prohibition. The 21st amendment was ratified on December 5, 1933 is the only amendment among the 27 Constitutional amendments is the only one to repeal a prior amendment and to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions. (wikipedia)
In May that same year Roosevelt signed the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, which enabled the federal government to build dams along the Tennessee River. The purpose of these dams was to control flooding, to generate inexpensive hydroelectric power for the people in the region and to rebuild forests. Other developments of the TVA were to improve travel along the Tennessee River and to help develop the region’s business and farming. TVA brought electricity to 7 states, which improved business and home life because there was more light, and it also created more jobs for millions of people during a time of grief.
Later in that same month, Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act which paid the commodity farmers to leave their fields fallow in order to end agricultural surpluses and boost prices. “AAA controlled the supply of seven ‘basic crops’-corn, wheat, cotton, rice, peanuts, tobacco and milk-by offering payments to farmers in return for taking some of their land out of farming, not planting a crop” (living history farm). Though in 1937 the Supreme Court ruled AAA as unconstitutional, it proved to be very beneficial to farmers and was rewritten and against passed into law.
The next month, the National Industrial Recovery Act was passed and guaranteed that workers would have the right to unionize and bargain collectively for higher wages and better working conditions, it also established a federally funded Public Works Administration. The NRA sanctioned, supported, and enforced an alliance between the industries and workers. It suspended anti-trust laws and required companies to write ‘codes of fair competition’, that effectively fixed prices and wages, established production quotas, and imposed restrictions on entry of other companies into the alliances. (ourdocuments.gov) Though the NRA improved many workers lives, in May 1935 Schechter Poultry Corp. vs United States, the Supreme Courth invalidated the code system on the grounds that the NRA improperly delegated legislative powers to the executive and that the provisions of the cod did not constitute a regulation of interstate commerce. (ourdocuments.gov)
The first a hundred days were very beneficial for Roosevelt and his administration towards their fight against the Depression. There were 16 major laws including the Glass-Steagall Banking bill, the Home Owners’ Loan Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Tennessee Valley Authority Act were passed. Almost every American was pleased with at least one of these policies though many were conservative or more radical than Roosevelt.
roosevelt saying government has to step in and can no longer let the economy be run by big banks and businesses-people who don’t agree with this call Roosevelt a socialist and a communist
I understand the rest of the reforms, but why was it so essential to Roosevelt and the rest of the government that Prohibition be ended that Congress passed the 21st amendment during Roosevelt's first 100 days? With all the rest of the real reform bills, like the Emergency Banking Act, I think that Congress would pass them because they were essential to the vision of the New Deal; what about repealing Prohibition would require focusing on it in the middle of the Depression?
ReplyDeleteI feel the Hundred Days was a defining moment for American history. From the depths of despair, Roosevelt was able to drag American out of one of the deepest depressions in history and start the road of recovery. This is also why he is such a powerful figure: his intense passion revitalized a nation. Can you think of other events in American history that were similar to the Hundreds Days, when America remained unified during very tough times? This article talks about other defining moments in American history:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23595359/
Was the Hundred Days really that important? Symbolically, the answer is probably yes because of the precedent it set for the expanding role of the government in daily life, but for the poor and middle class whose assets were liquidated by the Depression, it didn't work as well as intended. People like Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin appealed to those that felt like the New Deal didn't do enough, and advocated for radical leveling of wealth that was appealing as it was economically unsound.
ReplyDeleteThis is backed up by the fact that the NRA and other agencies created in the hundred days to provide relief to Americans and provide some jobs ultimately failed. While they were able to provide some relief, they really did nothing more than calm the nerves of unemployed Americans. Even the CCC, which was arguably one of the more successful projects really didn't do that much to ease the depression. If this is the case, I wonder why so much credit is given to the hundred days in the success of the nation?
DeleteI believe this is a really well written blog. I really like how you provide quite a bit of background information. Roosevelt was definitely an essential key to recovery from one of the worlds greatest economic collapse. Making him a very powerful figure, who gave hope to a hopeless nation.
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