## Learning Outcomes

- Understand why the New Deal is organized around the **Three Rs**: relief, recovery, and reform
- Identify the major programs of the **First New Deal** and **Second New Deal**
- Explain how New Deal policies changed the role of the federal government
- Distinguish between relief programs, recovery programs, and reform measures
- Evaluate the successes, limits, and criticisms of the New Deal
- Use New Deal evidence in SAQs, DBQs, and LEQ arguments for Period 7

## AP United States History Syllabus

For the AP United States History, you are expected to understand New Deal relief, recovery, and reform, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the **New Deal** was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression in the **1930s**
- Identify the **Three Rs**: relief for the unemployed and poor, recovery of the economy, and reform of the system
- Distinguish between the **First New Deal** of **1933–1934** and the **Second New Deal** of **1935–1938**
- Understand the purposes of major programs including the **AAA**, **CCC**, **WPA**, **TVA**, **FDIC**, **SEC**, **Social Security Act**, and **Wagner Act**
- Explain how Supreme Court decisions such as **Schechter Poultry v. United States (1935)** and **United States v. Butler (1936)** limited New Deal policies
- Evaluate the New Deal’s impact on unemployment, banking confidence, labor rights, and the expansion of federal power
- Recognise criticisms from both conservatives and left-wing critics
- Understand the limits of New Deal benefits for African Americans, women, Mexican Americans, sharecroppers, and agricultural or domestic workers

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. What do the **Three Rs** of the New Deal mean?
2. What is the difference between the **First New Deal** and the **Second New Deal**?
3. Name two relief programs, two recovery programs, and two reform programs.
4. How did the New Deal change the role of the federal government?
5. Why do many historians say the New Deal did not fully end the Great Depression?

## Introduction

The New Deal is one of the most tested topics in Period 7 because it sits at the center of several APUSH themes at once: **Politics and Power**, **Work, Exchange, and Technology**, and **American and National Identity**. It was not a single law. It was a broad set of programs, passed mainly between **1933 and 1938**, designed to respond to the crisis of the Great Depression.

For exam purposes, the clearest way to organize the New Deal is through the **Three Rs**: **relief**, **recovery**, and **reform**. This is useful because APUSH questions often ask you to classify programs, compare the First and Second New Deals, or judge how effective Roosevelt’s policies were. A strong answer does more than list programs. It explains what problem each one tried to solve and how successful it was.

> **Key Term: New Deal**
> Franklin D. Roosevelt’s set of domestic programs and reforms in the 1930s designed to address the Great Depression.

### The Three Rs and why they matter

The Three Rs are not just a memory trick. They show Roosevelt’s priorities in order. First, people needed immediate help. Then the economy needed to restart. Finally, the system needed long-term changes so that a similar collapse would be less likely.

> **Key Term: Three Rs**
> The standard way of grouping New Deal policies: relief, recovery, and reform.

**Relief** meant direct help for suffering people. This included jobs, cash assistance, and emergency support. The main question was: how can government keep people fed, housed, and employed right now?

**Recovery** meant restarting economic activity. This included raising farm prices, boosting industrial production, restoring confidence in banks, and increasing demand for goods and labor. The main question was: how can government get the economy moving again?

**Reform** meant changing rules and institutions. This included regulating banks and the stock market, protecting unions, and creating long-term social welfare. The main question was: how can government reduce the chance of another depression?

Some programs overlap. The **WPA**, for example, gave relief through jobs but also promoted recovery by putting wages into circulation. In APUSH, that is normal. If a program fits more than one category, lead with its most common classification and then note the overlap.

> **Key Term: relief**
> Immediate government help for unemployed, poor, or distressed Americans.
>
> **Key Term: recovery**
> Government action intended to restart agriculture, industry, banking, and employment.
>
> **Key Term: reform**
> Long-term change to the economic and financial system to prevent future crises.
>
> **Test Tip:** If a multiple-choice question asks which program belongs to reform, look for long-term regulation like **FDIC**, **SEC**, or **Social Security**, not emergency jobs.

### The First New Deal: emergency action in 1933–1934

The **First New Deal** focused on crisis management. Roosevelt took office in **March 1933** with bank failures spreading, unemployment massive, and public confidence shattered. The first task was not to solve every problem at once. It was to stop panic.

> **Key Term: First New Deal**
> The early phase of Roosevelt’s program, mainly **1933–1934**, focused on emergency relief, bank stabilization, and economic recovery.

Roosevelt began with banking. The **Bank Holiday** temporarily closed banks, and the **Emergency Banking Act** allowed only sound banks to reopen. This mattered because banking depends on trust. If depositors fear collapse, they withdraw funds, which can destroy even a healthy bank. Roosevelt’s fireside chats helped persuade Americans to redeposit money. This was a recovery step because credit could not return until confidence returned.

The **Banking Act of 1933** created the **FDIC**, which insured bank deposits. That was reform because it changed the system permanently. Before this, a bank failure could wipe out a family’s savings. Afterward, the federal government backed deposits, making bank runs less likely.

> **Key Term: FDIC**
> Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created in **1933** to insure bank deposits and restore trust in banks.

Farm policy was another early priority. Farmers had been producing too much while prices kept falling. The **AAA** paid farmers to reduce output in order to raise prices. The logic was simple: if supply falls while demand remains, prices rise. Higher prices could help farm incomes recover. But this policy had a sharp human cost. Landowners often received the payments, while tenant farmers and sharecroppers could be pushed off the land.

> **Key Term: AAA**
> Agricultural Adjustment Administration, created in **1933** to pay farmers to cut production and raise crop prices.

Industry was addressed through the **NIRA** and its agencies, especially the **NRA** and **PWA**. The idea was to reduce destructive competition, set fairer wages and hours, and use public spending to create demand. The **PWA** funded major construction projects. The **CCC** put young men to work in conservation jobs. These programs reduced suffering and pumped wages into the economy.

The **TVA** is especially important because it shows that New Deal recovery could be regional as well as national. The Tennessee Valley was poor and underdeveloped. The TVA built dams, expanded electricity, controlled flooding, and encouraged modernization. It did not just create temporary jobs. It altered the long-term economy of an entire region.

> **Key Term: TVA**
> Tennessee Valley Authority, created in **1933** to promote regional development through dams, electrification, and flood control.

By **1934**, Roosevelt had also added the **SEC**, which regulated the stock market. This belongs mainly under reform, but its timing shows how quickly early recovery measures led into long-term institutional change.

> **Key Term: SEC**
> Securities and Exchange Commission, created in **1934** to regulate stock trading and protect investors.

### The Second New Deal: labor rights, welfare, and lasting reform

By **1935**, the New Deal shifted. Roosevelt still supported relief, but the **Second New Deal** put greater weight on labor rights, social welfare, and more durable reform. This change happened partly because the Depression persisted and partly because Roosevelt faced criticism from both left and right.

> **Key Term: Second New Deal**
> The later phase of Roosevelt’s program, mainly **1935–1938**, emphasizing labor protection, social welfare, and long-term reform.

The most famous relief measure of this phase was the **WPA**. It created millions of jobs on roads, bridges, schools, and public buildings, but also for writers, artists, and photographers. That range matters. The WPA treated unemployment as a national emergency that affected both manual and white-collar workers.

> **Key Term: WPA**
> Works Progress Administration, created in **1935** to provide government-funded jobs on public works and cultural projects.

The most important reform law was the **Social Security Act of 1935**. It created old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid for some vulnerable groups. This is a major turning point in APUSH because it made the federal government more directly responsible for citizens’ economic security.

> **Key Term: Social Security Act**
> A **1935** law that created old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and limited welfare support.

Labor reform also deepened. The **Wagner Act**, also called the **National Labor Relations Act**, protected workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively and strengthened the **NLRB**. This helped unions grow, especially industrial unions linked to the **CIO**. Roosevelt believed stronger wages could support recovery by increasing purchasing power, but the Wagner Act is mainly remembered as reform because it changed labor relations.

> **Key Term: Wagner Act**
> The **1935** law protecting union organizing and collective bargaining, enforced through the NLRB.

The Second New Deal also raised taxes on wealthy individuals and large profits. This reflected a political response to critics such as **Huey Long**, who argued Roosevelt had not gone far enough in addressing inequality.

> **Test Tip:** For SAQs or LEQs, compare the First and Second New Deals as a shift from emergency stabilization to deeper reform. That distinction often earns analysis points.

### Opposition, limits, and historical judgement

The New Deal faced fierce resistance. Conservatives argued that it expanded federal power too far, interfered with business, and encouraged dependency. Left-wing critics argued that it was too cautious, too friendly to capitalism, and too limited in redistribution.

The Supreme Court became a major obstacle. In **Schechter Poultry v. United States (1935)**, the Court struck down key parts of the **NIRA**, arguing that executive agencies had been given powers that belonged to Congress. In **United States v. Butler (1936)**, the Court struck down the first **AAA**. These cases show that the New Deal was not simply accepted; it provoked major constitutional conflict.

> **Key Term: Schechter Poultry v. United States**
> The **1935** Supreme Court case that struck down the NIRA.
>
> **Key Term: United States v. Butler**
> The **1936** Supreme Court case that struck down the AAA.

Roosevelt’s answer was the **court-packing plan** of **1937**, which proposed adding justices to the Supreme Court. Even many Democrats rejected it because it looked like an attack on checks and balances. Politically, it hurt Roosevelt, even though later retirements allowed him to appoint new justices anyway.

The New Deal also had serious limits. It did not fully end mass unemployment; wartime mobilization during **World War II** is usually credited with finally ending the Depression. It also distributed benefits unevenly. African Americans often gained relief jobs and shifted politically toward the Democratic Party, but discrimination remained common, especially where local officials controlled aid. The **AAA** often hurt Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers because payments went to landowners. Women were often treated through a male-breadwinner model. Mexican Americans faced discrimination and exclusion. Domestic and agricultural workers were left out of some protections, including early Social Security coverage.

This is why a balanced APUSH judgement matters. The New Deal clearly reduced suffering, restored confidence, strengthened labor, and reshaped the federal government. But it also left many people behind and did not by itself produce full economic recovery.

For **Period 7**, that balanced judgement is the strongest one: the New Deal’s most lasting success was **reform**, its most visible short-term success was **relief**, and its weakest area was complete **recovery**.

> **Test Tip:** In an LEQ or DBQ, avoid saying simply “the New Deal worked” or “failed.” A better thesis is: it relieved suffering and created lasting reforms, but recovery remained incomplete and benefits were uneven.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- The New Deal is best organised through the **Three Rs**: relief, recovery, and reform
- The **First New Deal** of **1933–1934** focused on emergency action, especially banking, farming, and public works
- The **Emergency Banking Act** and **Bank Holiday** restored confidence in the banking system
- The **FDIC** insured deposits and represents long-term reform
- The **AAA** aimed to raise farm prices by reducing production
- The **CCC**, **PWA**, and **TVA** supported relief and recovery through jobs and development
- The **Second New Deal** of **1935–1938** emphasised labor rights, welfare, and permanent reform
- The **WPA** created millions of jobs, while **Social Security** created pensions and unemployment insurance
- The **Wagner Act** strengthened unions and collective bargaining
- Supreme Court cases such as **Schechter** and **Butler** limited New Deal programs
- Critics attacked the New Deal from both the right and the left
- The New Deal expanded federal responsibility but did not fully end the Great Depression or benefit all Americans equally

## Key Terms and Concepts

- New Deal
- Three Rs
- relief
- recovery
- reform
- First New Deal
- FDIC
- AAA
- TVA
- SEC
- Second New Deal
- WPA
- Social Security Act
- Wagner Act
- Schechter Poultry v. United States
- United States v. Butler


The New Deal - New Deal relief, recovery, reform