The Most Significant 3 Pieces of Legislation in American History - Literature review Example

The most significant 3 pieces of legislation in American History since 1865 The U.S. Congress has passed many pieces of legislation since the Civil War era. None have been as significant in shaping the future of the country as Reconstruction, New Deal and Civil Rights legislation. All were enacted during the most turbulent times in American history, the Civil War, the Depression and the social upheaval that defined the 1960’s. Reconstruction legislation bestowed citizenship to former slaves and was originally intended to rebuild the former Confederacy. However, it did little to alleviate the human and economic suffering of the war-ravaged South because Lincoln’s grand vision of reconstruction died with him at Ford’s Theater. Both negative and positive effects of Reconstruction legislation remain today. New Deal legislation was designed to pull the country out of its worst ever economic depression and ease human misery by creating employment opportunities and welfare programs. Many New Deal programs remain today. Civil Rights legislation finished what Reconstruction legislation started in terms of legally ensuring equality for Blacks. It, in essence, leveled the playing field for minorities, women and the disabled and was the result of the most massive social movement in history. Reconstruction Booth’s bullet altered the course of the nation because Vice President Andrew Johnson and President Abraham Lincoln were often diametrically opposed regarding the reconstruction of the South and the degree of civil liberties the freed slaves were to be afforded. Johnson used the presidency to further his own agenda of oppression and revenge on the South following the Civil War. His actions retarded the progression of Reconstruction and in many ways stopped it altogether. The remnants of the Johnson Presidency felt in the South lasted long after his death. The devastated South never received economic help that had been previously promised by Lincoln thus never fully recovered economically. The oppression of Blacks likely continued to a greater degree and for a longer period of time due to Lincoln’s assassination. The cumulative amount of human misery caused by Johnson is incalculable. “Johnson, who took office after Lincoln’s death, was the only Southern senator not to leave office upon secession. Lincoln had put him on the presidential ticket as a symbol of unity, but Johnson was a southern Democrat who was not sympathetic to Lincoln’s Republican Party or to helping the newly-freed slaves” (“What if”, 2007). Despite Johnson’s efforts to the contrary, Congress passed several Reconstruction Acts such as the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Reconstruction legislation allowed newly freed men to vote and hold governmental office and was intended to protect people from state laws designed to legalize discrimination. Of course, ‘Jim Crow laws’ in the South which did just that were not fully eradicated for nearly a century later. New Deal legislation New Deal legislation was President Roosevelt’s (FDR) administration’s response to facilitate the recovery of a country suffering from severe economic depression following the stock market crash of 1929. Although this legislation is historically viewed as the beginning of modern liberalism, this period of reforms due to an economic catastrophe had no ideological regularities. Contrary to popular historic perceptions, the country was hardly moving in a socialist direction.  The New Deal represented the prevailing capitalist societal structure as, for an example, its policy continued the division between what was considered the worthy poor, mostly widows and their children, and the ‘unworthy’ poor, which included just about anyone else, who were disregarded. The First New Deal (1933 to1934) decidedly orientated governmental policies toward big business.  The Second New Deal which began in 1935 was less pro-business in position, but in practice continued to support top-down economic growth.  Later in this stage of reform, the government increased its focus on antitrust enforcement and stronger regulations on business regulation but ultimately, big business maintained influence over essential decisions concerning investment, pricing and production. In addition, the government assisted industry by limiting competition. Rather than attempt to regulate businesses, New Deal advocates wanted to greatly increase the size and control of the government so that it could act as a counterbalance to private sector industries (Yantek, n.d.). When Roosevelt took office; the government was fairly simple in design with functions primarily limited to the necessities of administration. Afterwards, it was altered into a multifaceted agency controlling business and intruding into citizens’ liberties. “It is no exaggeration to say that he took the government when it was a small racket and made a large racket out of it” (Ebeling, 1998, p. 15). Roosevelt, as he repeatedly claimed, restored optimism to the American people after they had descended into misery as a result of the depression and his New Deal policies ‘saved capitalism’ (Yantek, n.d.). The main mission of Roosevelt’s New Deal administration was the rescue of American capitalism. Roosevelt solicited the support of business in fulfilling this mission. Roosevelt informed business tycoons who protested his policies that the New Deal was security for the ‘farsighted conservative.’   Some historians claim that Roosevelt intended the government’s involvement in the economy to be somewhat limited.  His objective of the New Deal was not to force a communal endeavor which socialist or communist governments employed in Europe.  He sought neither big business nor the swiftly budding labor unions to become controlled by of the government or the other way around (Yantek, n.d.). His New Deal ideology attempted to sustain both industrial rights and personal economic security, both perceived as essential components of American citizenship. Just as all things contain its own opposite within itself; this was certainly accurate of the outside and inside influences surrounding the Roosevelt administration. The historical contradictions that persist even today regarding the intent of the New Deal are explainable by the differing dynamics of the time. The New Deal, while serving to save capitalism primarily by alterations within the government structure, internal alterations, was complemented by programs of domestic reform. Roosevelt did not arrive at the New Deal policies on independent or personal reasoning but as the result of the continuous divergence of forces surrounding him. The economic conditions of the time demanded that the solutions foster relations between the capitalist class and the working class, each of whom had opposing interests. Those within the working class had differing interests as well. “While labor unions lobbied for employers’ liability laws, social reformers worked for maximum hours for women workers, minimum wages, factory inspections, child-labor laws, and anti-sweatshop laws” (Baker, 2003). New Deal advocates and labor unions viewed the citizen’s right to social security and access to health care as a matter of class equality. According to many, the New Deal was successful only in creating a new economic predicament instead of bringing its touted prosperity. Despite extraordinary fundamental changes and reforms brought about by the New Deal, the economy had not accomplished levels of production that were present prior to the stock market crash. The working class was very dissatisfied as their standard of living had steadily declined. The national income per person in 1938 was also much less than it was in 1929. Unemployment was escalating and farmers faced a crisis of their own. Governmental assets deteriorated by the year and neither civil nor world peace were foreseeable in the near future. Immense world events were occurring outside the U.S. while the New Deal was attempting to solve economic problems within the country. The failure of the New Deal to strengthen the economy caused Roosevelt, the spokesperson of industry and capitalist wellbeing, to develop a new policy. Evidently, Roosevelt and his supporters in congress followed the path of least resistance by following the persistent demands of the big business interests. The war policy under Roosevelt illustrated how, under the capitalist objectives, the aims and interests of big business coerce themselves through against all barriers until they become the official governmental programs an unfortunate fact of political life prevalent today (Novack, 1940). “In the wake of the greatest set of horrors the world had ever seen, accompanied also by the rise of an alternative, contending system in the Soviet Union, it was necessary for capitalism following the Second World War to reestablish itself ideologically as well as materially” (Foster, 2005). Civil Rights Act The Civil Rights Movement was an important chapter in American history which led to the establishment of human rights around the world and The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) which “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin” (US Equal Employment Opportunity, 1997). Subsequently an Executive Order (11246) originating from the Johnson administration in 1965 mandated affirmative action for all federally funded programs. These governmental efforts to effectively outlaw institutionalized racism was a reaction necessitated by the enormous outpouring of public pressure of all races and gender during the 1950’s and 60’s. Society as a whole as well as many groups and individuals has benefited from these programs including women, those who suffer disabilities and the working class, but the principal emphasis of the movement and legislation was focused on racial discrimination. Civil Rights legislation gave credence to the great imbalance of social equality that blacks were experiencing and to the rights and the respect that they were seeking through the movement. The movement’s tactics that had its beginnings during the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott proved to be highly successful. It was instigated when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing the driver’s request to give up her seat to a white man, this act of civil disobedience became the spark that ignited the masses during the 1950’s and 1960’s in protesting the racial inequalities. The previous year, the Supreme Court unanimously decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. This decision overturned the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling that legitimized the ‘separate but equal’ practice of segregation according to race, deciding that ‘separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.’ In September, 1957, nine black students were not permitted to enter the formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by the instructions of Governor Orval Faubus. Federal troops and the National Guard were sent to intervene on behalf of the students by President Eisenhower. The students became known as the ‘Little Rock Nine’ (“Civil Rights”, 1998). These events set the stage for the decade-long movement that led to the Civil Rights Act. This high-profile and historic quest for human rights achieved world notice and also brought to light America’s racist segregation of non-white immigrants. Energized and encouraged by the successes of the civil rights movement, activists worked to reverse the discriminatory laws restricting the influx of darker-skinned peoples into the U.S. The Civil Rights Movement became a ‘stencil’ for human rights worldwide and revolution world wide. Jim Crow segregation laws were banned by the 1964 Civil Rights Act causing segregation to become a thing of the dark past. Blacks now had social equality, at least in legal terms. The Civil Rights Act also prohibited discrimination in employment practices and the 1965 Voting Rights Act made the process to register to vote more accessible for blacks. In the South, ‘literacy tests’, poll taxes and other methods were used to restrict black voting. These were made illegal allowing all adult blacks the right and means to vote thereby giving them political equality. All other discriminatory laws were also banned in the 1960’s such as laws prohibiting inter-racial marriages and racist housing practices. By the end of the 1960s, the “Civil Rights Movement had achieved both social and political equality for blacks. This was a significant success” (“Civil Rights”, 1998). Reconstruction, New Deal and Civil Rights legislation occurred at the most volatile times in American history excluding the American Revolution. All were controversial and flawed to varying degrees yet all took the collective conscience of the country in a new political and social direction to a degree that no other pieces of legislation have accomplished. Works Cited Baker, Dorie. “Yale Professor Writes Book on American ‘Security’ System.” Yale News Release. Yale University, July 25 2003. “Civil Rights Movement, The.” Theale Green Community School. Berkshire. (1998). June 29, 2007 Ebeling, Richard M. Ebeling. “Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part XIV: The New Deal and Its Critics.” Freedom Daily, February 1998. Foster, John Bellamy. “The End of Rational Capitalism.” Monthly Review. V. 56, N. 10, 2005. Klein, Jennifer. “The Politics of Economic Security: Employee Benefits and the Privatization of New Deal Liberalism.” The Journal of Policy History. Vol. 16, N. 1, 2004. Novack, George. “Autopsy of the New Deal.” Fourth International. Vol. 1, N. 1, May 1940, pp. 10-13. US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” United States Code. (January 15, 1997). June 29, 2007 “What If Lincoln Lived?” CBS News. (May 18, 2007). June 29, 2007 Yantek, Tom. “The New Deal: Capitalism Loses its Hat.” Kent State University. n.d. Read More