What caused the Great Depression, and how did the New Deal transform the role of the federal government?
Topics 7.9 and 7.10 The Great Depression and the New Deal: the causes and effects of the economic collapse and the New Deal's expansion of federal power in response.
A focused answer to AP US History Topics 7.9 and 7.10, covering the Great Depression and the New Deal: the causes of the 1929 crash and the Depression, its human cost, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs of relief, recovery, and reform, and how the New Deal permanently enlarged the federal government.
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What this topic is asking
Topics 7.9 and 7.10 ask you to explain the Great Depression and the New Deal: the causes of the 1929 crash and the economic collapse, its devastating human cost, and Franklin Roosevelt's response, the New Deal programs of relief, recovery, and reform. The exam's central point is how the New Deal transformed the role of the federal government, while weighing its limits.
The causes of the Depression
The human cost
The Depression's human cost was staggering. By 1933 about one quarter of the labor force was unemployed; thousands of banks failed, wiping out savings; and millions lost homes and farms. Shantytowns called "Hoovervilles" sprang up, named in bitter mockery of the president. In the Great Plains, drought and dust storms, the Dust Bowl, drove farm families off the land, many migrating west to California. President Herbert Hoover, committed to limited government and voluntary action, did too little too late, and the suffering swept Roosevelt into office in 1932.
The New Deal: relief, recovery, reform
The transformation of government, and its limits
The New Deal's deepest legacy was the transformation of the federal government. For the first time, the federal government took responsibility for managing the economy and providing a basic safety net for citizens' welfare, building the foundations of the modern regulatory and welfare state. Yet the New Deal had real limits: it did not end the Depression, which persisted until the massive spending of World War II; and it excluded many of the most vulnerable, as Social Security at first left out farmworkers and domestic workers, occupations held by many African Americans and women. Conservatives attacked it as too radical and the Supreme Court struck down some programs. Holding the transformation and its limits together is the key to a top answer.
Worked example: arguing the New Deal transformed government
Try this
Q1. Name the 1935 New Deal program that created old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. [Recall]
- Cue. Social Security, the most lasting reform of the New Deal.
Q2. Explain how the New Deal changed the relationship between the federal government and the economy. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Before the New Deal the federal government largely left the economy alone, but Roosevelt's programs made it responsible for providing relief, regulating banks and the stock market, protecting labor, and guaranteeing a basic safety net through Social Security; this established the principle that the federal government should actively manage the economy and protect citizens' welfare.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP USH (style)3 marksBriefly describe ONE cause of the Great Depression. Briefly explain ONE New Deal program and its purpose. Briefly explain ONE way the New Deal changed the role of government.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per bullet.
A. Describe: causes included the 1929 stock market crash, bank failures, overproduction, weak consumer demand, and deep inequality.
B. Program: Social Security (1935) provided old-age pensions and unemployment insurance, creating a basic federal safety net.
C. Change: the New Deal made the federal government responsible for managing the economy and protecting citizens' welfare, a lasting expansion of its role.
Markers want a real cause, a concrete program with its purpose, and a genuine change in the role of government.
AP USH (style)6 marksEvaluate the extent to which the New Deal transformed the role of the federal government in the period 1933 to 1941.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point rubric.
Thesis (1): "The New Deal transformed the federal government's role, making it responsible for relief, economic regulation, and social welfare for the first time, though it did not end the Depression and left major groups unprotected."
Contextualization (1): the collapse of the economy after 1929 and the failure of laissez-faire responses.
Evidence (2): relief and jobs programs such as the WPA; the reforms of Social Security and the Wagner Act.
Analysis (2): explain HOW the New Deal built the regulatory and welfare state, then add complexity by weighing its limits and the role of World War II in ending the Depression.
Related dot points
- Topics 7.7 and 7.8 The 1920s, Innovations and Cultural Conflict: the consumer and mass culture of the decade and the cultural and political controversies it provoked.
A focused answer to AP US History Topics 7.7 and 7.8, covering the 1920s: the consumer boom and mass culture of radio, film, and the automobile, the Harlem Renaissance, and the cultural conflicts over immigration, prohibition, religion, and race, from the Red Scare and the Scopes Trial to the revived Ku Klux Klan.
- Topics 7.12 to 7.14 World War II, Mobilization, Military, and Home Front: the path from isolationism to war, total mobilization, the military effort, and the war's effects on American society.
A focused answer to AP US History Topics 7.12 to 7.14, covering World War II: the move from isolationism to war after Pearl Harbor, total economic and social mobilization, the home front including Japanese American internment and new roles for women and minorities, and the war's end and the atomic bomb.
- Topic 7.1 Contextualizing Period 7: the reform, economic, technological, and global forces that made the United States a modern industrial world power between 1890 and 1945.
Sets the scene for AP US History Period 7, covering Progressive reform, overseas expansion, the two world wars, the boom and bust of the 1920s and 1930s, the New Deal, and how to write contextualization for a DBQ or LEQ on the emergence of modern America.
- Topic 7.4 The Progressives: the goals, methods, and achievements of the Progressive reform movement, including the muckrakers, the reform presidents, and the Progressive constitutional amendments.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 7.4, covering the Progressive Era: the response to industrial and urban problems, the muckrakers, the reform presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, women's suffrage and the 19th Amendment, and the Progressive amendments that expanded the role of government.
- Topic 7.15 Comparison in Period 7: using the historical reasoning skill of comparison to analyze the developments of the emergence of modern America.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 7.15, teaching the historical reasoning skill of comparison through Period 7: comparing Progressivism and the New Deal, the two world wars, and the 1920s and 1930s, and how to frame a comparison essay for the DBQ or LEQ.
Sources & how we know this
- AP United States History Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)