Author: KEVIN YALCIN

Rauchway’s claim in “Reflation and Relief” is that the New Deal would have succeeded if it had been the only solution for the Great Depression. The New Deal was created by Franklin D Roosevelt and included a number of government institutions such as the NRA, CCC, and etc. FDR did not believe in sending direct cash handouts, so the New Deal primarily consisted of job relief programs. This is because he did not prefer  “allowing Americans to rely directly on the federal government for assistance programs,” (Rauchway 7). FDR was a strong supporter of government programs like the CCC. Young males between the ages of 18 and 35 were supposed to be employed by the CCC. Due to their lack of work experience, young men during the Great Depression had a tough time finding work. Most firms did not employ unskilled workers, and young men were left jobless. To join the CCC all you had to be was healthy, American citizen, young(18-35), singel, and unemployed. Those who joined the program had a list of jobs and it was to “preserve the nation’s crops and forests. Floods and forest fires needed preventing and fighting; pests required eradication; roads and bridges, fences and firebreaks all wanted building,”(Rauchway 5). Unlike the other New Deal initiatives, the CCC was unfazed from criticism since it was justified in giving job experience to young men as it was deemed “worthy of the government’s resources,” (Rauchway ) .

Other New Deal programs that were criticized included the CWA and the PWA. The Public Works Administration (PWA) as an example barely made a dent in unemployment statistics even though it had a budget of $3.3 billion. The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was created to supply laborers with jobs such as fixing city halls, public roads, and docks, and it employed nearly 4 million Americans. This  made Roosevelt anxious since these programs were supposed to be temporary relief programs, but it encouraged Americans to rely on government handouts. As a result FDR disbanded the program.

Although many of the New Deal’s relief initiatives were criticized, as Rauchman points out, they did bring in several changes aimed at preventing another recession. FDR instituted significant reforms, such as the Banking Act of 1933, which gave the Federal Reserve more power to oversee banking. Roosevelt also started “rescuing banks” by stating that all “banks must stop all gold transactions, thus shutting them down,” and he asked Congress to ratify his action. On March 9, Congress compiled with the Emergency Banking Act, which affirmed Roosevelt’s actions and appointed a receiver with the power to reorganize banks if necessary,” (Rauchman 1). Banks have reorganized and begun to reopen as a result of this and his other efforts.

 

The reconstruction phase began after the American Civil War ended. After the war, many Northern soldiers returned to their regular employment. A good number of Northern Veterans were Irish immigrants. They returned to their previous jobs, which were primarily labor-intensive. However, as they went back to work, they went on strike because of the terrible working conditions they were forced to endure. In “Reconstructing Representation 1866-1877” by Joshua Brown it explains some of the strikes that took place were due to the mine disasters in 1869 and 1870. As miners were going on strike other mining companies took advantage of the crises to take control of the miners union. According to Joshua Brown he states that “Franklin Gowen, president of the Reading Railroad, instigated the strike so that his company might gain total control of eastern Pennsylvania coal mining by destroying the miners’ union,” (Brown 132). To accomplish this Joseph Becker was dispatched to sketch the ongoing strike. Joseph Becker is Frank Leslie’s art manager, and he responds to “emergencies,” such as strikes or other events that are likely to be covered by the media.  He sketches the situation to publish it in the newspapers. In the harsh winter of eastern Pennsylvania, Becker depicted the Irish miners as lazy drinkers. Their wives, on the other hand, were depicted as the only hard workers by cooking the meals even though they were starving and shivering from the cold. The women and children had to bear only one loaf of bread left, while they attempted to warm themselves in front of the oven. Becker shifted the focus of the scenario by depicting miners as lousy workers by not even helping their families from starving. All of this serves as an incentive to lower the miner union’s value so that Reading Railroad may buy the miners’ union in eastern Pennsylvania.

In “America wasn’t a democracy Until Black People Made it One” by Nicole Hannah-Jones, she emphasizes slavery began from the very begining of the nations formation, stating “the Jamestown colonists bought 20 to 30 enslaved Africans from English pirates”. Slavery, according to Jones, is one of the nation’s most important backbones for colonists. She even mentions that protecting the institution of slavery was one of the key reasons why the American colonists decided to declare independence in the first place. She goes on to say that the colonists thought they were slaves of the British. Jones tries to exploit this hypocrisy by saying that the colonists fought for independence and freedom, but failed to give freedom to slaves. The first person to die in the American Revolution was an enslaved black man fighting for independence and liberation from British oppression. Jones claims that he gave his life for a new nation in “which his own people would not enjoy the liberties laid out in the Declaration”. Gordon Woods objects to her essay because of the use of unbacked evidence. He adds on to prove that during the American Revolution the sole reason of colonists revolting against Britain to keep slavery is simply not backable.

 

 Gordon Woods does not disprove the essay in its entirety, but her primary claims are undermined by the lack of provable evidence. If the protection of slavery was truly the cause of the revolution against Britain, why didn’t Southern planters join forces with planters in the British West Indies, according to Woods. It wouldn’t make sense if slavery was the main reason because the founding fathers of the republic, such as John Adams, were abolitionists. John Adams was responsible for The Declaration of Independence. Gordon Woods tries not to dispute any of Jones’s claims or ideas, but he believes her work is unsupportable and has too many factual inaccuracies.