Criticism Of The New Deal

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In the 19th century, the Great Depression strangled the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt established the New Deal to achieve relief, recovery, and reform. It did not fully achieve the goals, but more ideas came to shape the policy. The new ideas were to favor in capitalist solutions, he wanted to keep private property, such as public ownership of productive resources. Also, Roosevelt wanted to diminish Americas underconsumption, where factories and farms produced more than they could sell to consumers. Roosevelt hoped to counterbalance big economic institutions with government programs and by organization among workers and small producers. Lastly, the government must moderate the balance of wealth created by American capitalism (640). …show more content…
About half were jobless and in the rural South, vast majority of African Americans living conditions were bad. The New Deal’s Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) that favored landowners, often pushed blacks off the land they farmed. Only 11 of more than 10,000 WPA supervisors in the south were black. Disfranchisement by intimidation prevented southern blacks from protesting their plight at the ballot box. Critics charged that the New Deal’s NRA “Negro Run Around” or “Negroes Ruined Again.” Roosevelt responded to the criticism with caution since New Deal reforms required the political support of southern white Democrats who would be alienated by programs that aided blacks. A white Georgia relief worker expressed that “any Nigger who gets over $8 a week is a spoiled Nigger, that’s all” (652). This shows political clout of entrenched white racism, New Dealers still attracted support from black voters. Roosevelts overtures to African Americans, got them to shift from a Republican to a Democrat. Furthermore, by 1940, African Americans still suffered. Many of the thirteen million black were payed low wages and were unprotected by the New Deal safety …show more content…
They remained the poorest of the poor. Since the Dawes Act of 1887, Native Americans were encouraged to abandon their Indian Identities and adopt the cultural norms of the majority society. John Collier, the New Deal’s commissioner of Indian affairs, the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 reversed the policy. Collier claimed that there was an interesting fact about Indians was that they “do not expect much, often they expect nothing at all; yet they are able to be happy” (653). The IRA barely provided economic aid and brought little benefit to Native Americans (653). Since they lived in poverty there was no way they were going to benefit from the New Deal. Finally, the New Deal programs helped millions with jobs, relief, and government support, but it also neglected many groups of Americans. African, Hispanic, Native, and Asian Americans were all discriminated because of their race and that they were living in poverty. Asian Americans were neglected from the New Deal because they weren’t U.S citizens and didn't seem them being anything more. African American voters faced racism. Women and Hispanic Americans earned very minimal wages from a nickel to ten cents. The New Deal benefited many rich people but not the poor and unemployed

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