Author: MANDEEP KARIR

In Rauchway’s book, chapter 4 titled “Reflation and Relief” pointed out many of the futuristic plans of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he was trying to collapse the brutal economic crisis of the Great Depression. The Great Depression took place in 1933 and right in the middle of World War 1 and World War 2. The stock market crash that happened in 1929 was the result of almost an entire decade of economic success in the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt took oath as President in 1933 and was determined to put everything back in its place. He produced a series of acts and plans called the New Deal Act which was Roosevelt’s way of fixing the crisis along with his administration. One of the targets made by the New Deal Act was the rise of unemployment and people struggling to stay on their feet. The Civilian Conservation Corps or the CCC was created to provide new work opportunities for men between the ages of 18 and 35. Since there were a lot of fires and floods, their job was to preserve the nation’s forest life as well as repair broken roads, bridges, and other damaged resources. Providing these opportunities helped men earn more money and keep the overall economy somewhat in better shape. 

Another upside of Roosevelt’s New Deal Act is that it provided security for people’s money inside banks. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Any savings from local residents would be saved by the federal government. Although President Roosevelt himself had some doubts about all the banks losing the money, he still went with the plan. Contrary to his disbeliefs, FDIC reduced the number of bank failures as Rauchway put it on page 2 of the chapter, “The president worried that the government would one day find itself forced to pay out too large a sum for failed banks, but he accepted the plan…FDIC bank failures dropped by an order of magnitude”. Roosevelt held a radio talk called the “fireside chat”, which is an event held by himself to explain his plans of reform to the larger masses. Ironically as he was assuring the voters, he knew he was steering away from having more money in the economy. 

While President Roosevelt had many great ideas for reform and relief in the U.S economy, not all of his ideas came to reality. FDR feared that his administration would need to inflate U.S currency so that he could still be able to prove a rise in economic stability. It’s important to connect these ideas to today where we are in the midst of a global pandemic known as COVID-19. Our former President, Mr. Donald Trump did not act rapidly to put a stop to the everlasting growth of cases around the United States as well as other countries. The Trump administration did not close down local transportation or air travel quickly enough. Had they done so in a timely manner, we would be a little safer, to say the least. After the lackadaisical efforts of President Trump, current President Joe Biden had been elected to fix the already done damage. While they have fixed a significant number of pre-existing problems, there are still a lot of problems that have not been fixed or have gotten worse since he was elected. Therefore, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s situation is similar to the current one as they both aimed to find new ways problems within the U.S government. 

What was a historical figure, event, or detail that particularly stuck out to you or interested you? How did the author use this figure, event, or detail to support his/her overall argument or interpretation? 

 

The Radical Reconstruction struck out to me the most in the reading called “The Making of Radical Reconstruction” by Eric Foner. The radical reconstruction was a time in the later 1800s where parties were trying to help the slave laborers get out of their dreadful situation of overworking and minimal to no compensation. Congress played a key role in making this life-changing decision for so many workers. 

 

Radical Reconstruction helped change the way labor workers or slaves were treated after the American Civil War. There was a position that was filled by someone. This person, under the title “Radical Republican”, is intended to be in charge of representing labor workers. The main purpose of this position is to ensure that former and current slaves(at the time) were protected and had the same civil rights as white Americans. The role of the Radical Republican was effective because it allowed radicals to gain support from other citizens such as manufacturers. According to Foner’s reading, it is stated that “Radicals also won support among manufacturers who saw upwardly mobile blacks as a new market for their products”(page 106). This shows how so many people were starting to take a stand for the radicals. This was just what Radical Republicans wanted and it affected the rest of the society- both people of color as well as White Americans. It positively affected people of color who were trying to get out of slavery, but White Americans were not very happy about this. The slaves (who are now being represented by Radicals), were meant to do labor and produce necessary goods for trade and profit such as cotton. Since the Radical Republicans are determined to reduce the labor of slaves(or essentially reduce free labor), the production of cotton will decrease and it will prevent businessmen from making money. Radical Republicans were reshaping the South so that the rich people living in that part of the society wouldn’t be able to control them. As a matter of fact, the Radicals proposed that the federal government should cut the “400 million acres of a plantation belonging to the wealthiest ten percent of Southerners”(page 107). This would eventually hurt those ten percent of the population that will no longer receive free cotton or money from cotton production More importantly, the people of color are now on the same level of civil rights as White Americans. To further support this movement, Congress removed the people who were originally selected as Southern Congressmen and formed a Joint Committee on Reconstruction to see if Southern states were eligible for representation. Unfortunately, the attempt to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment was unsuccessful because the proposed amendment stated that the weak class of laborers were to form contracts for their labor. This steered away from the main point to abolish slavery in the Southern states. This was doing the opposite of that, so President Andrew Johnson suggested that the amendment should be revised and reconsidered. President Johnson actually supported both Northerners and Southerners, but the Bureau Bill forced him to choose against his diverse allies. In other words, President Johnson went against the Southern states. 

 

The Radical Reconstruction movement in the mid-late 1800s was an attempt to change the way people of color were treated by their slave masters. They were producing loads of cotton without any compensation for their hard, long labor. Instances of labor with little to no pay still exist today such as the school bus protest that happened in the U.S as bus drivers were saying that they should receive more pay for the work that day do. In short, Radical Reconstruction had a strong impact on the government and population in the past briefly leading into the present where we still practice some of the same concepts.

 

Thavolia Glymph set a strong tone as she talked about slavery. Slavery is a hurtful topic for most people to talk about as Glymph explains it through her historic text. She takes account of many perspectives in her writing, which shared their own experiences through slavery. Glymph helps the reader understand how they dealt with the many cruel actions. Slavery was a time where African Americans were forced into labor. This reading opened up my mind to more information about why slavery was cruel and what type of impact it had on the people who were forced into it. 

               Glymph talked about the experiences of many other African American slaves who were a part of slavery. Lulu Wilson, a slave during the 1930s said that slavery was very cruel because of the way she and others were treated unfairly. They were told to do a lot of labor and it was often tiring. One slip up would mean they would have to hear from the slave master, which was the last thing they would have wanted. It’s hard to escape this harsh feeling about slavery. I was able to open my mind up to different points about slavery and see why it was so cruel. Wilson, the master was “jes’ mean,” but the mistress “studied ‘bout meanness”(Glymph 19). This helps understand the level of cruelty that was experienced with the brutal slave masters. The slave masters were freemen who owned property including slaves. Yes, the slaves were also identified as property that the slave masters would own. Without any sympathy or emotion towards the slaves, he made them work so much to take care of his house. Unlike the slave masters, the women are supposed to be delicate, but some are not. The slaves must have had a very rough time getting through this. 

This helps me see all the disadvantages of being a slave and having to do hard labor. Times were horrible and scary for adults and children because of the harsh treatments from the slave masters. Thavolia Glymph widened my thought process about slavery because I can imagine how they have felt. In other words, I can put myself into the slaves’ shoes and see that it was very unfair to have to be a part of those uneasy to forget events.