New Deal efforts
39e - discuss the effect of the New Deal in terms of the impact of Civilian Conservation Corps, Agricultural Adjustment Act, rural electrification, and Social Security
New Deal
While campaigning for president Franklin D. Roosevelt promised “I pledge you, I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people.” By the time Roosevelt took office in 1933, the depression was being felt all over the world. The New Deal was a campaign to jumpstart the American economy. Agricultural Adjustment Act
Under this act, farm subsidies (subsidies are grants of money given by the government) were given to property owners instead of tenant farmers, a majority of whom were black. Social Security
The SSA provided government pensions (retirement pay), to older citizens. It also provided federal money to state governments for helping people who were unemployed or unable to work. Payments from employers and employees are collected through payroll taxes. This set up the nation’s first system of unemployment insurance and it also gave state money to support dependent children and people with disabilities. |
Civilian Conservation Corps
The CCC started in 1933. It provided jobs for young single men building forest trails and roads, planting trees to reforest the land and control flooding, and building parks. They also did work on dams, roads, forest fire prevention and mosquito control projects. They lived in army-type camps and were paid $30 by the government, of which $22 went to their parents. Also, schools across the state were built by the CCC, hospitals in many cities were built by the CCC including much of Grady Hospital in Atlanta, several airports in Georgia including the Macon Airport, and Dalton’s city hall and several city jails were built through this program. Rural Electrification Act
This act was the result of President Roosevelt’s first stay at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt noticed no lights from the surrounding farms. When he got his electric bill he was surprised to find out that it was more expensive than the bill for his mansion in New York. He created the REA to help farmers and rural residents create co-ops to extend their own electrical lines to rural areas. The REA was created was created on May 11, 1935. It loaned more than $300 million to farmers’ cooperatives to help them extend their own power lines and buy power wholesale. Electricity made farm life much easier with electrical water pumps, milking machines, lights and electrical appliances. It was one the most important and far-reaching of the New Deal programs. Around 1940, a significant percentage of farmers in Georgia and other parts of the nation had electricity. |