The New Deal’s Legacy

Ch 10.3

Thursday, April 5, 2012

• Understand the court packing plan, Keynesian Economics, Roosevelt Recession and Social Safety Net.

Discussion Questions

• How powerful is the Supreme Court?• What is the source of their power?• How long is a Supreme Court justice in power?• How are they replaced?

Background info: Don’t write this down!

• FDR goes too far…• Angry that the Supreme Court ruled the AAA

and NRA unconstitutional, FDR tried to overpower the court.

• He asked the Congress to expand the court from 9 to 15 justices so he could appoint 6 more!

Court-Packing Plan

• FDR wanted to expand the Supreme Court so he could appoint 6 more justices that would be in favor of the New Deal, but it was a huge political mistake.

Discussion Questions…

• What would happen to the economy if the government cut spending?

• Gov’t jobs would have to be cut: Teachers, Firefighters, Police, etc.

• What affect would this have on the economy?

The Roosevelt Recession

• FDR cut spending on the WPA and PWA believing the economy was back, but the economy plummeted and unemployment increased.

Keynesian Economics

• The New Deal was based on Keynesian Economics which argued gov’t has to spend heavily during a recession, even if it uses deficit spending, to jump start the economy.

The Safety Net

• The New Deal created safeguards to protect the average American from economic disaster and changed American’s attitude on the role of gov’t.