This worksheet helps students to analyze three pieces of evidence about Social Security (a government poster, a letter about the program, and Congressional testimony about the program) and write a paragraph explaining the evidence's different points…

The Social Security Act of 1935 started a national old-age pension for workers who earned wages. This meant that at age 65 these workers could retire and receive monthly payments from the government. To pay for this program, workers and employers…

This brief overview describes how the Social Security program originated during the Great Depression and how the program works.

President Roosevelt sent his Social Security bill, named the “Economic Security Act,” to Congress in January 1935. Congress held committee hearings on the bill. Here, a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored…

In this letter to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, an American protests the Social Security program, created two years earlier. For Social Security, the federal government took money out of working people’s paychecks in order to create a fund that…

This worksheet helps students undertake a close reading of the 1936 cartoon "A Mad Tea Party," about President Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. It also asks them to write a paragraph explaining the cartoon's argument.

This worksheet helps students undertake a close reading of a timeline of New Deal programs and write a paragraph explaining one of them.

This worksheet helps students undertake a close reading of letters from President Herbert Hoover and President Franklin Roosevelt and summarize their different ideas about the role of government during an economic crisis.

This cartoon uses characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland story to criticize federal spending on New Deal programs. The cartoonist depicts President Franklin Roosevelt as the Mad Hatter; Postmaster General and Chairman of the Democratic…

The Great Depression cut childhoods short as poverty and unemployment soared. Young people struggled to stay healthy. Millions moved--sometimes with their families, sometimes on their own--in search of jobs. Many found relief in New Deal programs…