Great Depression and New Deal

Running head:         NATIVE-AMERICAN STUDIES

The Great Depression & the New Deal

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The year 1929 is believed to have formed a defining moment to the United States economic status. The stock market crashed and the country entered a state of economic depression. Even though America had enjoyed economic growth and sustainable development throughout the 1920s, the economic depression negatively impacted on all advancements that had been made over the years (Calloway, 2012). The economic status of the people was worsening by the day. The gap between the rich and the poor was widening drastically. The native communities are believed to have formed the largest proportion of the people whose lives were negatively impacted by the depression. Millions of people from the local native communities found themselves jobless and starving. These people travelled far and wide in search of jobs but they could not find any. President Hoover’s attempt to overhaul the situation had totally failed. People lost their homes and started erecting shacks in the cities. The situation was so bad that some people requested to be allowed to sleep in the jails cells in winter. Hunger was the order of the day. Almost half of the American populace did not have money to buy food and as a result they tuned to charities. Relief food was however not enough to feed the hungry masses (Calloway, 2011). Most of the locals grew sick due to lack of food and many children are believed to have died as a result. The depression was weakening the confidence of every man in America. The family bond that was long a major aspect to the American prosperity was broken. Fathers left their families because they could no longer provide the basic needs. Children ran away from home to avoid being termed as burden to their families (Calloway, 2011).

In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt a democrat was elected the president of the United States. The president promised a new deal to the forgotten American communities and committed the federal government to high levels of social responsibility and economic planning. The great depression is believed to have changed the mainstream perception of the government’s role and responsibilities to the native communities and economy (Bryant, 2014). Under the new deal, new policies that shaped the government’s relation with the native communities were developed. The government started viewing the local Indians as a people who still possessed the fundamental secret of human life rather than a group of people that had been passed by civilization. The Indian Reorganization Act was established to conserve and guide the development of Indian land and resources (Calloway, 2012). Even though these policies were seen as a glimpse of hope to the native communities the situation of the people remained largely unchanged for a long period of time.