Give Me Liberty 21 2B

The Second New Deal was launched in 1935 with a focus on security, while the First New Deal emphasized economic recovery.
Major initiatives aimed at redistributing national income to sustain mass purchasing power within the consumer economy.
The belief that if everyone has money to spend, the economy will improve due to increased participation and consumption.

Objective: Bring electric power to homes, addressing the lack of electricity in rural areas.
Context: As of 1934, approximately 80% of farms were without electricity.
Impact: Increased equality and economic security; expanded purchasing power in rural America.

Critical actions taken to employ Americans in public works projects.
Employment: Approximately three million Americans were hired each year until the programs ended in 1943.
Construction: Thousands of public buildings, bridges, over 500,000 miles of roads, and numerous airports, stadiums, sewage treatment plants, and swimming pools were constructed.
Inclusive employment: The WPA also extended job opportunities to white-collar workers and professionals, such as dentists and doctors.
Support for the arts: Artists were employed to create murals, local histories, and guidebooks, capturing the memories of ordinary Americans, including former slaves.

Passed in 1935; marked a significant shift in the relationship between American citizens and the federal government.
Structure: A hybrid of national and local funding control and eligibility standards.
Exclusions: Domestic and agricultural workers were not covered by unemployment and old-age benefits, disproportionately affecting non-whites and unmarried women.
Key takeaway: Represents a major shift in expectations regarding government involvement in individual welfare and economic security.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) utilized radio, with more than two-thirds of American families owning radios by the mid-1930s, to redefine concepts of freedom and push for support of New Deal policies.
Liberalism was redefined by FDR as an active, socially conscious state that increased the freedom of citizens through government action.
FDR emphasized that more government involvement resulted in greater security for average citizens.

Ongoing discussions about who gets to define terms like "freedom," "liberty," and "liberalism" for political purposes.
Anticipation of who will successfully claim these definitions as politically advantageous in the future.

Conservative businessmen and politicians labeled the New Deal as reckless spending, claiming that it compromised individual freedom for the welfare of the poor.
Formation of the American Liberty League to articulate these perspectives, particularly during the election of 1936.

FDR was re-elected with 60% of the vote, indicating strong public support for his policies.
Despite this, the opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal laid the groundwork for anti-government conservatism focused on free market principles and dismantling the welfare state.

Following his 1936 election, Roosevelt sought to influence the Supreme Court to support his legislative measures.
Proposal: Allow the president to appoint one new justice for each sitting justice over seventy years old. Six out of nine justices qualified for this.
Congressional rejection of this proposal demonstrated a resistance to expanding executive power.

By March 1937, the Supreme Court began to show support for greater economic regulation at federal and state levels, influenced by Roosevelt's political popularity.

Enacted as the last significant piece of New Deal legislation.
Provisions: Banned goods produced by child labor from interstate commerce, established a minimum hourly wage of 40 cents, and mandated overtime pay for hours exceeding forty hours per week.

As economic conditions improved in 1936, federal funding for farm subsidies began to decline.
Emergence of John Maynard Keynes and his economic theories: Advocated that public spending should be the primary tool for combating unemployment and stimulating economic growth, even at the cost of budget deficits.
Key principle: Government intervention is necessary to manage economic crises and should prioritize spending to ensure economic health, regardless of budgetary consequences.