Changes wrought by progressive era reformers and the New Deal of the 1930s.

Running Head : The New Deal

Franklin D . Roosevelt and the New Deal

[Author 's Name]

[Institution 's Name] In the period between 1890 and 1920 , known as the progressive era citizen initiative in America formed the backbone of the remediation of problems resulting from the after effects of urbanization and industrialization . Progressivism in effect , began with the people and then trickled upwards to their local governments , reflecting a belief that if governments failed to address their concerns , albeit without malice , then it was their duty to bring them to their

attention . Much of this citizen initiative was derived from the middle class , as the lower classes were too cynical to have much faith in government 's ability to address welfare of citizens and social capital while the upper classes had little in the way of concerns that needed to be addressed

The results of progressive era reforms are most manifest in how they transformed government . For example , the controversial era known as Prohibition was a result of the Eighteenth Amendment . It sought to address concern regarding the ostensible ill effects that unrestrained alcohol consumption had upon society . While Prohibition was inevitably revoked after the realization that it led to the criminalization of a large sector of civil society and the rise of criminal distribution rings , it is still an important period to observe when measuring the progressive era for it reflects how government was changing from a largely laid back entity concerned only with maintaining the rights of citizens to protecting it

Furthermore , the sentiments and ideology of the progressive era culminated largely in the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt , a former New York governor with a moderate reputation for social reforms into the Presidency in 1933 . In effect , he was charged with leadership over a nation that was stinging badly from the effects of an economic downturn known as The Great Depression . Roosevelt and his staff soon realized that they were effectively charged with the responsibility of nationwide economic reform and social relief . As far back as his nomination speech , Roosevelt addressed these concerns by pledging a new deal for the American people

Following inauguration , Roosevelt and his people declared a four day banking holiday to buy the necessary time to develop a recovery plan However , beyond the security of banking assets , it was necessary to restore banks ' ability to operate on solvent terms , but without resorting to measures that could possibly result in currency devaluation . Together with the Brain Trust , a collection of legal professors serving in an advisory capacity , Roosevelt developed the Emergency Banking Act . It was passed with such momentum that it went from introduction to signature in less than a day . It called for an evaluation of banking assets and the issuance of Federal Reserve notes based on the results as well as giving power to the Treasury Secretary to prevent the hoarding of gold reserves and freeze currencies and gold bullion in exchange for (Degler , 421 Schlesinger , 7

Volpe infers Roosevelt and his...