Undergraduate Course: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal (HIST10113)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will begin by investigating the causes of the Great Depression and by examining the rise of Franklin Roosevelt to political prominence. It will then examine the ways in which the Democratic administration sought to deal with the crisis through the regulation of business and agriculture and through the promotion of economic development. The course will assess the results of the New Deal's reform-oriented impulse by looking at the emergence of an American welfare state in the 1930s and at the creation of new governmental protections for organised labour. There will be an analysis of Roosevelt's successful mobilisation of electoral majorities for the Democratic party, together with coverage of the radical criticisms that the New Deal faced and of the fortunes of America's minority groups under the New Deal. As far as political institutions are concerned, the course will look at the changing roles of the Supreme Court and of state and local governments. Finally, the course will review themes concerning the long-range impact both of the New Deal and of Roosevelt himself on the United States. From year to year, the course may examine different aspects of the New Deal which are relevant to the course's larger interest in the response of the American government under Franklin Roosevelt to the varied problems of the Great Depression. |
| Course description |
Not entered
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Directors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503783). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
| Students will obtain an effective understanding of the main events and developments of the United States in the 1930s. To do so, they will study political, economic, social, and cultural themes. As the title of the course suggests, they will examine the contribution of a significant individual to these events and developments, and will analyse historiographical issues concerning the role of such figures. Among the themes through which they will do so are race, gender, the place of government in American society, and business-labour relations. The richness of New Deal historiography means that the topic is especially useful in encouraging students to learn about how history is written and how historical debates develop. Through their studies in this course, students will develop further the historical skills that they amassed in earlier History courses. They will learn more about how to read primary sources as well as secondary literature, and about how to draw conclusions from them. On the basis of this work, they will assemble arguments and interpretations of their own, then communicate these through written and oral means, and respond to the arguments and interpretations of others.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Robert Mason
Tel: (0131 6)50 3770
Email: Robert.Mason@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Marie-Therese Rafferty
Tel: (0131 6)50 3780
Email: M.T.Rafferty@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage