## Learning Outcomes

- Explain how pressure from the left helped push Franklin Roosevelt toward the Second New Deal
- Identify the main conservative and business criticisms of the New Deal
- Recall key Supreme Court cases that limited early New Deal programs
- Explain why Roosevelt’s court-packing plan in **1937** became a major political setback
- Assess how opposition both weakened and reshaped New Deal policy
- Use specific evidence to answer APUSH questions on causation, comparison, and continuity and change over time

## AP United States History Syllabus

For the AP United States History, you are expected to understand how pressures and opposition shaped the New Deal, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that criticism of the New Deal came from both the political left and the political right
- Identify **Huey Long**, **Francis Townsend**, and **Father Charles Coughlin** as major left-wing critics who argued Roosevelt had not gone far enough
- Explain how left-wing pressure helped shape the **Second New Deal** of **1935–1938**
- Understand conservative opposition from business leaders and the **American Liberty League**
- Know the significance of **Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)** and **United States v. Butler (1936)**
- Explain why Roosevelt proposed the **court-packing plan** in **1937** and why it failed
- Recognise that the Supreme Court later upheld major New Deal measures in **1937**
- Understand that a conservative coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats limited further major New Deal reform after **1938**

## 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. How did left-wing critics help push Roosevelt toward the Second New Deal?
2. What was the difference between criticism of the New Deal from the left and criticism from the right?
3. Which New Deal laws were struck down in **Schechter Poultry** and **United States v. Butler**?
4. Why did Roosevelt’s court-packing plan fail even though the Court later became more friendly to New Deal policies?
5. To what extent did opposition weaken the New Deal, and to what extent did it reshape it?

## Introduction

The New Deal is often taught as a set of recovery and reform programs created by Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression. For APUSH, that is only part of the story. Just as important is the fact that the New Deal changed because Roosevelt faced pressure from many directions. Critics on the left said he was doing too little for poor Americans. Critics on the right said he was doing too much and threatening capitalism. The Supreme Court forced him to defend the constitutional basis of his programs.

This means the New Deal should not be seen as one fixed plan. It was a moving response to economic crisis, public anger, electoral pressures, and constitutional limits. That makes this subtopic excellent for APUSH causation and continuity/change questions.

> **Key Term: New Deal**
> The set of federal programs and reforms introduced under Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s to address the Great Depression through relief, recovery, and reform.

### Pressure from the left and the turn to the Second New Deal

The First New Deal focused mainly on emergency relief, banking stability, farm support, and economic recovery. It helped many Americans, but it also left major frustrations in place. Unemployment remained high. Poverty remained severe. Many elderly Americans had no secure income. Workers wanted stronger protections. These problems created political pressure from the left.

> **Key Term: Second New Deal**
> The more reform-oriented phase of Roosevelt’s New Deal, usually dated **1935–1938**, which expanded social welfare, labor protections, and work relief.

The most famous left-wing critic was **Huey Long** of Louisiana. Long argued that Roosevelt was too cautious and that wealth had to be redistributed much more aggressively. His **Share Our Wealth** program called for limits on large fortunes and greater support for poor families. Long appealed to people who believed that the Depression had exposed deep unfairness in American capitalism. His strength mattered because Roosevelt could not ignore a figure who might pull working-class and poor voters away from the Democrats.

Another major pressure came from **Francis Townsend**, whose Townsend Plan proposed generous old-age pensions. Its appeal showed that elderly insecurity was not a small side issue. It was a national political problem. Roosevelt did not simply copy Townsend’s plan, but its popularity helped make federal old-age support urgent.

A third critic, **Father Charles Coughlin**, used radio to reach huge audiences. He first supported Roosevelt, then turned against him, arguing that stronger action was needed against bankers and concentrated wealth. Coughlin is important because he showed how mass media could amplify economic anger. If millions listened to him, Roosevelt had to worry that dissatisfaction was spreading beyond fringe groups.

> **Key Term: Share Our Wealth**
> Huey Long’s proposal to redistribute wealth through heavy taxes on large fortunes and broader economic support for poorer Americans.

These left-wing critics did not write New Deal laws themselves. Students often overstate their direct control. The better argument is that they created political pressure. Roosevelt responded by moving toward programs that looked more permanent, more redistributive, and more protective of ordinary Americans.

That helps explain the **Social Security Act (1935)**, which created old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. It also helps explain the **Works Progress Administration (WPA)**, which expanded federal job creation, and the **Wagner Act (1935)**, which strengthened labor rights and collective bargaining.

> **Key Term: Social Security Act**
> A **1935** law creating federal old-age pensions and other social welfare protections, including unemployment insurance.
>
> **Key Term: Wagner Act**
> The **1935** law, also called the National Labor Relations Act, that protected workers’ rights to unionize and bargain collectively.

The key reasoning chain is this: deep Depression hardship produced popular anger; left-wing critics channelled that anger; Roosevelt responded with broader reform to protect the New Deal coalition and strengthen Democratic support. That is a strong APUSH causation argument.

> **Test Tip:** If an SAQ or LEQ asks how criticism shaped the New Deal, do not just list critics. Link each critic to a pressure point: Long to redistribution, Townsend to old-age security, Coughlin to anti-bank and anti-elite anger.

### Conservative opposition from business and the right

Opposition did not come only from radicals and populists. Conservatives attacked the New Deal from almost the opposite direction. They argued that Roosevelt was expanding federal power too far, harming business confidence, and undermining individual responsibility.

> **Key Term: American Liberty League**
> A conservative anti–New Deal organization founded in **1934** that argued Roosevelt’s policies threatened free enterprise, property rights, and limited government.

The **American Liberty League** is the clearest example. It drew support from wealthy businessmen and conservative Democrats as well as Republicans. That detail matters. APUSH questions often reward students who avoid overly simple party labels. New Deal opposition was not just Republicans versus Democrats. Important conservative Democrats also resisted Roosevelt.

Conservative critics objected to several things at once. First, they disliked deficit spending and higher taxes. Second, they opposed increased regulation of business. Third, they believed some relief programs weakened self-reliance by making citizens dependent on government aid. In their view, the New Deal threatened the older idea that the federal government should remain limited and that markets should recover without such broad intervention.

This conservative opposition limited Roosevelt in two ways. Politically, it gave anti–New Deal arguments respectability among elites, newspapers, and business leaders. Practically, it made it harder to build permanent majorities for more radical reform. Roosevelt could expand the federal state, but he could not do so without producing backlash.

This is why APUSH students should avoid the mistake of treating the New Deal as a smooth expansion of federal power. Each step forward generated resistance. The New Deal grew, but not without constant political cost.

There was also a long-term result. By the late **1930s**, a conservative coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats became strong enough to block much further reform. This coalition is important because it shows that New Deal politics changed after the early burst of activism. Even before World War II, the most expansive phase of New Deal reform had slowed.

### Supreme Court opposition and constitutional limits

Political criticism mattered, but judicial opposition mattered even more because it could actually strike down laws. The Supreme Court did exactly that in major early New Deal cases.

> **Key Term: Supreme Court opposition**
> Judicial resistance to New Deal laws, especially when the Court ruled that some federal programs exceeded constitutional limits.

In **Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)**, the Court struck down key parts of the **National Industrial Recovery Act**. The Court ruled that Congress had improperly delegated legislative power to the executive branch. In simpler terms, Roosevelt’s administration had been given too much rule-making power. The Court also argued that the business involved was local, not interstate, so federal regulation under the commerce power was too broad.

> **Key Term: Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States**
> A **1935** Supreme Court case that struck down major parts of the National Industrial Recovery Act.

In **United States v. Butler (1936)**, the Court struck down key parts of the **Agricultural Adjustment Act**. The ruling said the federal government could not use its taxing power in that way to regulate agricultural production. Again, the issue was not just that conservative justices disliked Roosevelt. The legal question centered on constitutional limits.

> **Key Term: United States v. Butler**
> A **1936** Supreme Court case that struck down central parts of the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

These rulings mattered for several reasons. First, they destroyed important First New Deal programs. Second, they proved that not every crisis justifies unlimited federal expansion. Third, they pushed Roosevelt to redesign parts of the New Deal in ways more likely to survive judicial review.

This is a major continuity/change point. Early New Deal experimentation ran into constitutional obstacles. Later New Deal measures became more durable partly because policymakers had learned from those defeats.

> **Test Tip:** When writing about Supreme Court opposition, use the case names and connect them to the exact laws: Schechter = NIRA, Butler = AAA. Examiners reward that level of precision.

### Court-packing, the 1937 shift, and the limits of New Deal power

Roosevelt’s most dramatic response to judicial opposition was the **court-packing plan** of **1937**. Frustrated that the Court had struck down major laws and fearing that more would fall, he proposed allowing additional justices for older members of the Court who did not retire.

> **Key Term: court-packing plan**
> Roosevelt’s **1937** proposal to add Supreme Court justices, presented as a judicial reform but widely seen as an attempt to create a pro–New Deal Court.

The proposal was politically damaging because many Americans saw it as an attack on judicial independence and separation of powers. Even many Democrats thought Roosevelt had gone too far. This is crucial: Roosevelt was still popular, but popularity did not erase constitutional anxiety. Americans could support reform and still reject what looked like executive overreach.

So why is the episode so important if the plan failed? Because it shows the outer limit of New Deal political power. Roosevelt could win elections and pass major laws, but he could not easily redefine the constitutional structure itself.

Yet the story does not end in defeat. In **1937**, the Court began upholding important New Deal measures. In **NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.**, it upheld labor regulation under the Wagner Act. In **Steward Machine Co. v. Davis** and **Helvering v. Davis**, it upheld key Social Security provisions. This marked a clear shift from the earlier invalidation of NIRA and AAA.

Students sometimes use the phrase “the switch in time that saved nine.” That phrase can be useful, but use it carefully. Do not imply that one slogan explains everything. The safer argument is that by 1937 the Court became more willing to accept broader federal power in response to national economic crisis.

The result was mixed. Roosevelt lost the court-packing fight politically, but the broader New Deal state survived institutionally. That makes this episode perfect for a complexity point in an LEQ: a setback in one sense became a partial victory in another.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- The New Deal was shaped by pressure from both the left and the right
- Left-wing critics argued Roosevelt had not done enough for the poor, elderly, and workers
- **Huey Long** promoted **Share Our Wealth** and pushed Roosevelt toward broader reform
- **Francis Townsend** helped make old-age security a major national political issue
- **Father Charles Coughlin** used radio to mobilize mass criticism of bankers and Roosevelt
- The **Second New Deal** included the **Social Security Act**, **Wagner Act**, and expanded work relief through the **WPA**
- Conservatives and the **American Liberty League** argued that the New Deal threatened free enterprise and limited government
- **Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)** struck down key parts of the **NIRA**
- **United States v. Butler (1936)** struck down key parts of the **AAA**
- Roosevelt’s **court-packing plan** in **1937** failed because many saw it as executive overreach
- The Supreme Court later upheld major New Deal laws in **1937**, including labor and Social Security measures
- By the late 1930s, a conservative coalition helped block further major New Deal reform

## Key Terms and Concepts

- New Deal
- Second New Deal
- Share Our Wealth
- Social Security Act
- Wagner Act
- American Liberty League
- Supreme Court opposition
- Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States
- United States v. Butler
- court-packing plan


The New Deal - Pressures and opposition shape New Deal