How did Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal try to end the Depression and change the role of government?
Evaluate Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal as a response to the Great Depression, including relief, recovery, and reform programs, Social Security, and the expanded role of the federal government (GSE SSUSH18, Domain 4).
An EOC-level answer on the New Deal for the Georgia Milestones US History exam: Franklin Roosevelt's relief, recovery, and reform programs, the goals of the alphabet agencies, Social Security, the debate over the New Deal, and how it permanently expanded the role of the federal government, with worked stimulus and technology-enhanced questions.
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What this topic is asking
SSUSH18 asks you to evaluate Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the federal response to the Great Depression. You need the three goals (relief, recovery, and reform), examples of the programs (the "alphabet agencies"), the lasting reform of Social Security, the debate over the New Deal, and how it permanently expanded the role of the federal government. This is a heavily tested Domain 4 topic.
The three Rs
The alphabet agencies
Social Security: the lasting reform
The debate over the New Deal
The New Deal did not fully end the Depression, World War II's spending did, but it eased suffering, restored confidence, and changed expectations of government.
The expanded role of government
The New Deal's most important long-term effect was to permanently expand the federal government's role in the economy and in citizens' lives. After the New Deal, Americans expected Washington to regulate the economy, insure bank deposits, support the unemployed, and provide a safety net, a lasting shift in the relationship between government and citizens.
Try this
Q1. Explain the three goals of the New Deal. [3]
- Cue. Relief: immediate help for the suffering (jobs, food). Recovery: rebuilding the economy back to health. Reform: long-term changes to prevent another depression.
Q2. Explain why the Social Security Act was a lasting reform. [2]
- Cue. It created a permanent federal safety net of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by payroll taxes, which still exists today.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of GaDOE exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
GA Milestones (US History, style)1 marksThe Social Security Act (1935) is considered one of the most lasting New Deal reforms because itShow worked answer →
A single-select item (Domain 4, SSUSH18).
Correct answer: created a system of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance that still exists today.
Social Security provided ongoing income to retirees and the unemployed, a permanent federal safety net. Markers reward identifying it as old-age and unemployment support that endures. Distractors such as "ended the Depression immediately" or "was repealed in 1940" misstate its nature and lasting impact.
GA Milestones (US History, TE)2 marksDrag each New Deal goal to its meaning: goals are relief, recovery, and reform; meanings are 'immediate help for the suffering, such as jobs and food,' 'rebuilding the economy back to health,' and 'long-term changes to prevent another depression.'Show worked answer →
A drag-and-drop matching (technology-enhanced) item (Domain 4, SSUSH18).
Correct matches: relief to immediate help for the suffering (jobs and food); recovery to rebuilding the economy back to health; reform to long-term changes to prevent another depression.
Markers reward matching the three Rs to their purposes. The common error is confusing relief (immediate aid) with reform (lasting structural change).
Related dot points
- Analyze the causes and consequences of the Great Depression, including the stock market crash, bank failures, overproduction, the Dust Bowl, and the human impact of unemployment and poverty (GSE SSUSH17, Domain 4).
An EOC-level answer on the Great Depression for the Georgia Milestones US History exam: the causes (the 1929 stock market crash, bank failures, overproduction, and buying on margin), the Dust Bowl, the human toll of unemployment and poverty, and the failure of Hoover's response, with worked stimulus and technology-enhanced questions.
- Analyze how the rise of big business, consumer culture, and mass media transformed American life in the 1920s, including the automobile, credit, radio and movies, and the Harlem Renaissance (GSE SSUSH16, Domain 4).
An EOC-level answer on the Roaring Twenties for the Georgia Milestones US History exam: the consumer economy built on the automobile and credit, the rise of mass media in radio and movies, the new role of women, and the Harlem Renaissance, with worked stimulus and technology-enhanced questions.
- Analyze the social and cultural conflicts of the 1920s, including Prohibition, nativism and immigration restriction, the revived Ku Klux Klan, and the debate between modernism and traditionalism (GSE SSUSH16, Domain 4).
An EOC-level answer on the cultural conflicts of the 1920s for the Georgia Milestones US History exam: Prohibition and its failure, nativism and immigration quotas, the revived Ku Klux Klan, and the clash between modern urban culture and traditional rural values seen in the Scopes Trial, with worked stimulus and technology-enhanced questions.
- Examine the origins of World War II and US entry, including the aggression of the Axis powers, the move from neutrality to Lend-Lease, and the attack on Pearl Harbor (GSE SSUSH19, Domain 4).
An EOC-level answer on US entry into World War II for the Georgia Milestones US History exam: the aggression of the Axis powers and the failure of appeasement, the shift from neutrality through Lend-Lease, and the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into the war, with worked stimulus and technology-enhanced questions.
- Examine the major developments and domestic impact of World War II, including key turning points, the Holocaust, the home front and the role of women, Japanese American internment, and the atomic bomb (GSE SSUSH19, Domain 4).
An EOC-level answer on World War II for the Georgia Milestones US History exam: the war in Europe and the Pacific (D-Day, the Holocaust, island hopping), the home front and the role of women and minorities, Japanese American internment, and the atomic bombs that ended the war, with worked stimulus and technology-enhanced questions.
Sources & how we know this
- United States History Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) — Georgia Department of Education (2017)
- Georgia Milestones United States History Study/Resource Guide for Students and Parents — Georgia Department of Education (2022)