British Struggle For Control, The
Historian and author Bernard Bailyn talks about the increasing difficulty the British government experienced in trying to exert control over North America in the years leading up to Revolutionary War.
Changing Perceptions of Race
Professor of American studies and history Matthew Frye Jacobson explains that perceptions of race vary over time. "What are now called the 'white ethnics,' we see as a just kind of minor distinctions of basic kind of whi..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Agricultural Adjustment
The Agricultural Adjustment Act is a stopgap measure which designates the government as the buyer of last resorts when price are low. Farmers are also required to plow under crops and slaughter livestock to reduce the su..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Critics of Roosevelt and the New Deal
Some of the most strident attacks on the New Deal come from critics on the right who believe Roosevelt is threatening capitalism and waging war against the wealthy. The wealthy hate Roosevelt with a passion, while critic..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Growth of Federal Relief
The Roosevelt administration does not consider relief a priority at first but comes to realize something must be done to help impoverished people survive. They create a range of relief mechanisms from providing money to ..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Industrial Recovery
In the face of this economic crisis business leaders push for relaxation of antitrust regulations. The National Industrial Recovery Act provides the relief they want, but demands certain concessions in return--the restri..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Labor's Organizing Battles
Labor leaders, most notably John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers, propose to organize all workers, skilled and unskilled, in a single union to maximize bargaining power. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) staunch..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Launching the New Deal
Roosevelt submits an extraordinary number of bills to Congress in the first 100 days of his administration, diverse experiments designed to combat the Depression. FDR's optimism is contagious; he never doubts something w..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Limits and Legacies of New Deal
In the 1930s, Roosevelt's principal critics accuse him of abandoning the Constitution and establishing a tyrannical state. Today historians point to problems the New Deal did not resolve and groups it did not represent. ..
Chaos of Experimentation, A: Presidential Election of 1936
Even with the outpouring of legislation in 1935, Roosevelt's prospect's for reelection in 1936 seem in doubt. Before Huey Long's assassination it was thought that he might become a third-party candidate. Disenchanted lib..