New Deal Dbq Essay

People were desperate for a change during The Great Depression. Franklin Roosevelt, remembered as the one who successfully guided the nation through the Great Depression and World War Two, was able to pass a deal that would help the nation drastically. This deal became known as the New Deal. The components of the New Deal changed millions of lives for Americans struggling through the Great Depression, however, many people were still opposed to FDR’s program.

One reason so many people opposed of the New Deal Program was because they deemed it unconstitutional. In document one the picture depicts a “constitutional officer” arresting a “New Dealer”. The officer is arresting him because of FDR’s disrespect and violation of the principals of the

In 1937 he attempted to remake the supreme court which became known as the court packing scheme. This scheme threatened the principles of separation of powers, which scared many people in government, especially conservatives. Another thing FDR wanted to do was change the checks and balances systems.

The idea of changing the government was not just going against the constitution, it also made FDR seem like a dictator. For example document four talks about Fortune Magazine and the “Case against FDR”. This article criticized FDR and accused him of having “dictatorial efforts” to control the free enterprise system and redistributing income. The author of the article states they believe FDR is becoming a dictator by saying “Let us save ourselves! Let us Act! …. The Roosevelt theory of federal administration is a dangerous and menacing.” The author continued this statement by comparing him to Stalin and Hitler.

Document seven, also comparable to document one, talks about FDR as a dictator. They believed his court packing scheme was one step closer to dictatorship. Frank Garnett, the writer of this article, stated that “he cleverly camouflaged this scheme”. This means that FDR’s plan to raise the number of judges from nine to fifteen, to many people was seen as

Hoover stated that the New Deal was violating the Free Enterprise system, regimenting the economy, centralizing economic and political control, and social experimentation, according to his statements in document six. This statement can be compared to the other documents because, as the previous documents have stated, he is changing too much in the government.

Another reason people opposed of FDR’s New Deal is because they disagreed with how FDR was dealing with the amount of poor people in the country. According to document three, Huey Long talked about many of the things FDR does not do in regard to the poor. For example, he believed FDR was too conservative when it came time to doing something to help the poor. In fact, Huey Long criticized him for actually spending more time with men like the Rockefellers and Carnegies. Huey believed that instead he should take a more active approach on Robin Hood economics through taxing the rich and through