The New Deal

Outside of the Civil War, the Great Depression is considered the greatest crisis in American history. Like the Civil War, the Great Depression became a physical and moral struggle for survival that permanently changed the identity of the nation. The depth of the economic depression, which was as the name implies was the greatest in U.S. History, seriously eroded people's confidence in the basic institutions of American government and society. It lead to people calling into question the very ideas of democratic government and capitalism that are the cornerstone of America.

But as we see again and again throughout human history, times of great crisis often lead to great transformation, as societies re-invent themselves to meet the demands of the time. The New Deal was certainly the greatest transformation of American government in U.S. history and one that continues to shape our conception of government in America today. In this project we will examine how the Great Depression and New Deal transformed America.