List of Benchmarks for United States History |
| Standard 24. | Understands how the New Deal addressed the Great Depression, transformed American federalism, and initiated the welfare state |
| | Level II (Grade 5-6) |
| | 1. | Understands the background and leadership styles of depression-era presidents (e.g., Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt) |
| | 2. | Understands the influences on and impact of the New Deal (e.g., how legislation and policies affected American workers and the labor movement, the condition of working men and women in the United States in the 1930s, how the New Deal affected the lives of local families, how women contributed to New Deal programs) |
| | 3. | Understands the significance and legacy of the New Deal (e.g., major New Deal programs still in effect today, support for and opposition to Roosevelt’s "court packing" proposal and why he abandoned this proposal) |
| | Level III (Grade 7-8) |
| | 1. | Understands renewed efforts to protect the environment during the Great Depression and their success in places such as the Dust Bowl and the Tennessee Valley |
| | 2. | Understands the link between Progressivism and the early New Deal |
| | 3. | Understands the factors contributing to the forging of the Roosevelt coalition in 1936 and its electoral significance in subsequent years |
| | 4. | Understands the labor movement during the New Deal era (e.g., the re-emergence of labor militancy and the struggle between craft and industrial unions; the commitment of labor unions to organize diverse groups and secure equitable conditions and pay for minorities; the objectives of labor leaders and advocates; how art, photographs, and song lyrics contributed to the emotional appeal to support unions; WPA projects and their impact on local areas) |
| | 5. | Understands various challenges to the New Deal (e.g., arguments of leading opponents, the roots of opposition to Roosevelt's policies, the ideas of the Townsend Plan and the "Share the Wealth" program of Dr. Francis Townsend and Senator Huey Long) |
| | 6. | Understands the personal and political reasons for Herbert Hoover's and Franklin D. Roosevelt's responses to the depression |
| | 7. | Understands the contributions of Eleanor Roosevelt to the New Deal (e.g., specific efforts the First Lady made in response to the crisis) |
| | 8. | Understands how the New Deal influenced public opinion (e.g., the public's belief in the responsibility of government to deliver public services) |
| | Level IV (Grade 9-12) |
| | 1. | Understands the first and second New Deals (e.g., the success of the relief, recovery, and reform measures associated with each) |
| | 2. | Understands how the New Deal influenced the civil and political rights of diverse groups (e.g., the involvement of women and minorities in the New Deal and its impact upon them, FDR's commitment to advancing the civil and political rights of African Americans, how African Americans planted the seeds of a civil rights revolution during the 1930s, how the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 affected Native Americans, the role of John Collier in securing a "new deal" for Native Americans) |
| | 3. | Understands how the New Deal influenced labor and employment (e.g., the impact of the New Deal on non-union workers; factors contributing to the success of the CIO leadership in organizing the rubber, auto, and steel workers in the period 1937 1941; labor's commitment to organizing; causes, strategies, and leadership of major strikes during the New Deal; the effects of the New Deal agricultural programs on farm laborers) |
| | 4. | Understands influences on the New Deal (e.g., Supreme Court cases related to the New Deal and Roosevelt’s response to the rulings; the class basis for support and opposition to the New Deal in the Northeast, South, Midwest, and Far West) |
| | 5. | Understands the significance and ideology of FDR and the New Deal (e.g., whether the New Deal was able to solve the problems of depression, who the New Deal helped the most and the least; how the New Deal changed the relationship between state and federal government) |
| | 6. | Understands the proposals of Upton Sinclair's EPIC campaign in California (e.g., groups that opposed it, why it failed, the reasons for the growth of the American Communist Party during the 1930s, to whom the party most appealed) |
