Question

In 3–5 sentences, evaluate whether this was a positive or negative change.

Describe 2–3 New Deal programs that were effective or ineffective to support your evaluation.

Answer 1

Overall, the New Deal was a largely positive change because it stabilized financial systems, provided immediate relief and jobs during the Great Depression, and created lasting institutions that protected millions from future economic collapse. However, its benefits were uneven—some programs excluded women and many African Americans or favored property owners—and economic recovery was incomplete until World War II.

Examples:
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) — Effective: between 1933 and 1942 the CCC put roughly 3 million young men to work on conservation and infrastructure projects (roads, parks, erosion control), providing wages, job skills, and environmental benefits at relatively low cost. Its reach, though, largely excluded women and often enforced segregated units for Black enrollees.
- Social Security Act (1935) — Effective long term: established old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to some dependent populations, creating a durable safety net that reshaped American social policy. Early versions excluded many agricultural and domestic workers (disproportionately people of color and women), but the program formed the basis for later expansions.
- Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) — Mixed/ineffective for some: it raised crop prices by paying landowners to cut production, which helped farm incomes overall but frequently displaced tenant farmers and sharecroppers; the original AAA was also ruled unconstitutional in 1936 and had to be revised.