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Essay On New Deal And Freedom

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Throughout American history, there have been too many conflicts to count -- each between different people and for different reasons. During the 20th century, a number of the disagreements revolved around freedom and liberty; every citizen had a vision of these concepts that benefitted them, so inevitably, many very different definitions arose during this time. A prime example of this was in the debate over the size of federal government. Franklin Roosevelt, president from 1933-1945, favored a strong government in order to guarantee economic security for all citizens, and he started to implement this idea through the New Deal. However, many Americans saw this as oppressive and wanted a government that stayed out of their business, so to speak. The differing perceptions of the words “liberty” and “freedom” are what caused oppositions to the strong federal government suggested by the New Deal. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, during the Great Depression, he …show more content…

This is what spurred the Second New Deal, focused on economic security. The government intervention prompted opponents to accuse FDR of sacrificing “individual freedom,” and he commented on the views of these opponents in his speech to the Democratic National Convention: “That very word freedom, in itself and of necessity, suggests freedom from restraining power.” Roosevelt argued that the conservatives were holding on to this definition from the American Revolution, which they used to oppose a government they viewed as tyrannical. He, however, had a revised definition that allowed the federal government to uphold the liberty of all citizens to make a living. He worked towards this through initiatives such as the Works Progress Administration, the Wagner Act, and the Social Security

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