Mrs. Ruland's U.S. History Class Project

GT Webliographies - Unit 3

The unit three project for the GT class was an inquiry project dealing with the issue of reform in the United States.

There have been many different reform movements in our history that have worked to correct what members see as the problems that effect the American people. Some of the reform movements have been very focused, such as the Abolitionists. Other reform movements, such as the Progressives, have worked in many different areas. All reform movements have their critics. There are people who do not want change for whatever reason, or that believe that the proposed reforms are not sufficient.

Franklin D. Roosevelt promised the people a New Deal when he campaigned for president in 1932. He strove to find solutions to the economic problems that were effecting the American public. In the process, FDR changed the nature and purpose of the US government. While many people were assisted by his efforts, there were still a variety of critics.

Core Question: How did the goals and policies of the New Deal compare to earlier United States reform movements, including the Populists and the Progressives?

Focus Questions to Assist the Research Process:

• Are there recurring themes in American attempts to reform the nation?
• Did these reformers share similar visions for improving American society?
• Did they share common enemies?
• What was the perceived relationship between government, business, and the public?
• Did each reform movement enhance democracy in the United States, or restrict it?

In addition to a report on their research, groups in 2004 also created a webliography (a web-based annotated bibliography) on one of the three main reform movements addressed in the research.

The New Deal

The Progressives

The Populists

Since 2005 groups of GT students created webliographies on individual topics dealing with reform in the United States.

Reform Webliographies

2005

• TVA Warning
• Signs of Economic Instability
• Federal Theater Project
• Traditional vs. Modern Values in the 1920s
• Trust-Busting
• Harlem Renaissance and Reform
• First Ladies and Reform
• Efforts to Improve Farm Prices
• Huey Long and the Share Our Wealth Program
• Socialist and Progressive Critics of the New Deal
• Social Security
• Early Efforts in African American Civil Rights
• Women's Suffrage
• Moral Reform and Prohibition
• Banking System Reform

2006

• Anti-Asian Discrimination
• The Supreme Court During the New Deal
• FDR and Court Packing
• FDR and the 1st 100 Days
• Upton Sinclair and Epic
• Reform Legislation in the Second New Deal
• New Deal Reforms: Then and Now
• World War II and Its Role in the End of the Great Depression
• New Deal Efforts to Create Jobs
• Effect of the Red Scare on Labor Union Membership
• Farmers, Railroads and the Populist Party
• Effect of the New Deal on the Arts
• Child Labor and the Progressive Movement
• Preservation of American Culture during the New Deal
• Effect of World War I on Women's Rights
• Stock Market Reform and Monitoring to the Present Day

2007

• Bonus Army
• Role of the United States in the World Wide Depression
• FDR's Fireside Chats and the Americans' Response
• The Changing Roles of the President from the Late 1800s to the End of WWII
• Political Bosses and Their Effect on Cities
• Consumer Protection
• Organized Crime as a Result of Prohibition
• Prohibition and Organized Crime as Folk Heroes
• Public Works — Is it Socialism?
• The Efforts of Foreign Nations to Combat the Great Depression
• Fine Arts' Portrayal of the Government During the New Deal
• Mother Jones
• Political Cartoons and Reform
• Photographers During the New Deal
• The Espionage and Sedition Acts and Their Effect on American Culture
• The Effect of the Rural Electrification Act on Small Towns
• Popular Entertainment As Vehicle for Change
• The New Deal's Effects on Minority Groups

2008

• Anti-Lynching Campaign
• Jim Crow Laws
• Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement
• Geneva Protocol of 1925
• Recall, Initiative and Referendum
• Social Darwinism
• Movies as an Antidote During the Great Depression
• Immigration Restrictions
• Government Policies towards Native Americans: The Progressive Era to the 1920s
• Prohibition Campaign
• Isolationism Between World War I and World War II
• Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick Policy
• Advertising's Role in Consumerism
• Political Corruption and the Spoils System
• Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois
• Father Coughlin - The Radio Priest
• WPA and the Arts
• African American Rights During Reconstruction

 

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Last updated June 28, 2008

© Marcella Ruland 1998-2008, All rights reserved