How did the New Deal respond to the Depression and reshape government?
Explain the New Deal: its goals of relief, recovery, and reform, key programs, the expansion of the federal government's role, and the debate over the New Deal (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.10).
A SOL-level answer on the New Deal for the VUS exam: Franklin Roosevelt's relief, recovery, and reform response to the Depression, key programs like the CCC, Social Security, and the FDIC, the lasting expansion of the federal government's role, and the debate over the New Deal.
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What this topic is asking
Standard VUS.10 asks about the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's sweeping response to the Great Depression. The exam wants its three goals (relief, recovery, reform), key programs, and, most importantly, how it expanded the role of the federal government in the economy and in protecting citizens, plus the debate over whether it went too far.
Roosevelt and the three Rs
FDR projected confidence ("the only thing we have to fear is fear itself") and acted fast in his first "Hundred Days," restoring some faith that the government would help.
Key programs
A handful of programs are worth knowing by what they did:
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): put young men to work on conservation projects (planting trees, building parks), including in Virginia.
- Works Progress Administration (WPA): funded public-works jobs (roads, schools, bridges, arts projects).
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): built dams to provide electricity, flood control, and development to a poor region.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): insured bank deposits, so people would not lose savings in a bank failure (still in force today).
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): regulated the stock market to prevent the abuses behind the crash.
- Social Security (1935): created pensions for the elderly and aid for the unemployed and disabled, the most enduring New Deal reform.
The expanded role of government
This idea, that Washington bears responsibility for economic stability and the public welfare, has shaped American government ever since. It is the test's central New Deal concept.
The debate
The New Deal was controversial. Critics argued it gave the federal government and the president too much power, spent too much, and interfered with free enterprise (the Supreme Court struck down some early programs). Others said it did not go far enough to help the poor or end the Depression (full recovery came only with World War II spending). The debate over the proper size and role of government, sparked by the New Deal, continues today.
Try this
Q1. State the three goals of the New Deal. [3]
- Cue. Relief (immediate help), recovery (restarting the economy), and reform (preventing another depression).
Q2. Explain how the New Deal changed the role of the federal government. [2]
- Cue. It greatly expanded the government's role in managing the economy and providing a social safety net, establishing that government should actively protect citizens' welfare.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of VDOE exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
VA VUS SOL (released item style)1 marksThe New Deal programs are best summarized by which three goals?
(A) Liberty, equality, fraternity
(B) Relief, recovery, and reform
(C) God, gold, and glory
(D) Life, liberty, and property
Show worked answer →
A single-select item on the New Deal's aims (VUS.10).
Correct answer: (B). The New Deal is summarized as the "three Rs": relief (immediate help for the suffering), recovery (restoring the economy), and reform (changes to prevent another depression).
A, C, and D belong to other contexts. The test rewards the relief-recovery-reform framework.
VA VUS SOL (released item style)2 marksThe New Deal expanded the federal government's role.
(a) Name one New Deal program and state what it did. (b) Explain how the New Deal changed the role of the federal government.
Show worked answer →
A two-part constructed response (VUS.10), 2 points (1 per part).
(a) 1 point: any valid program, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (jobs in conservation), Social Security (pensions for the elderly and aid for others), the FDIC (insured bank deposits), or the TVA (electricity and development).
(b) 1 point: the New Deal greatly expanded the federal government's role in the economy and in providing a social safety net, establishing the idea that government should actively manage the economy and protect citizens' welfare.
Markers reward one accurate program and the expansion of federal responsibility.
Related dot points
- Explain the causes of the Great Depression, including the stock market crash of 1929, and its economic and social effects on the American people (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.10).
A SOL-level answer on the Great Depression for the VUS exam: the causes (the 1929 stock market crash, overproduction, bank failures, buying on credit, uneven wealth), and the human effects (mass unemployment, bank and business failures, the Dust Bowl, and widespread hardship).
- Describe the political, social, and economic changes of the 1920s, including prosperity and consumerism, the Harlem Renaissance, Prohibition, and the cultural conflicts over immigration, race, and values (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.10).
A SOL-level answer on the 1920s for the VUS exam: the postwar economic boom and consumer culture, the cultural ferment of the Harlem Renaissance and jazz, Prohibition and its effects, and the era's deep conflicts over immigration, race, religion, and the role of women.
- Explain the causes of World War II, the rise of totalitarian and fascist powers, American isolationism, and the events that drew the United States into the war, including Pearl Harbor (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.10).
A SOL-level answer on the road to World War II for the VUS exam: the rise of totalitarian and fascist dictators, the failures that led to war, American isolationism and the shift to aiding the Allies, and the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into the war.
- Explain the goals and achievements of the Progressive movement, including the muckrakers, regulation of business, political reforms, and the constitutional amendments of the era (16th, 17th, 18th, 19th) (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.8).
A SOL-level answer on the Progressive Era for the VUS exam: the muckrakers who exposed abuses, the regulation of business and food and drugs, political reforms expanding democracy, the conservation movement, and the Progressive amendments (16th income tax, 17th direct senators, 18th prohibition, 19th woman suffrage).
- Describe the impact of World War II on the American home front, including economic mobilization, the expanded roles of women and minorities, Japanese American internment (Korematsu v. United States), and the war's role in ending the Depression (Virginia 2015 History and Social Science SOL VUS.10).
A SOL-level answer on the World War II home front for the VUS exam: economic mobilization and the end of the Depression, women in war work (Rosie the Riveter), the expanded roles and continued discrimination faced by minorities, and the internment of Japanese Americans upheld in Korematsu v. United States.
Sources & how we know this
- Standards of Learning Documents for History and Social Science, Adopted 2015 — Virginia Department of Education (2015)
- SOL Practice Items (All Subjects) — Virginia Department of Education (2024)