Social Studies
3/3/03
Although Franklin Delano Roosevelt's goals were respectable, he deliberately attempted to take advantage of an ambiguity in the Constitution to accomplish them. Roosevelt proposed to "pack" the Supreme Court. He endeavored to appoint judges to the Supreme Court who would pass his New Deal. Roosevelt referred to the fact that the Constitution does not state the number of justices on the Supreme Court to demand that more justices be added. He tried to utilize his power over the weak Congress to force the Supreme Court to become weak as well. The American people were outraged by Roosevelt's attempt to pack the court. The New Deal may have been helpful in bringing the United States out of the Depression but it was not so crucial that the American legal system could be circumvented.
Americans were foolish and therefore elected to Congress puppets of Roosevelt who would pass Roosevelt's New Deal. The Supreme Court consisted of more intelligent men who refused to pass many acts of Roosevelt's New Deal. Roosevelt sought to make the Supreme Court just as acquiescent as Congress. He wanted to appoint pawns who would disregard the law and would decide cases as Roosevelt wished. These pawns would create a majority in the Supreme Court and eliminate the threat that the judges who disagreed with Roosevelt posed to his New Deal. Roosevelt desired dictatorship and no opposition to his will, to turn the country into a mess similar to communist Russia and Nazi Germany. (document 2)
Roosevelt discovered a loophole in the Constitution; it does not specify the number of judges on the Supreme Court. He availed himself of this error and, under the vise of "speeding up justice," attempted to cheat the United States legal system by adding six judges to the court. (document 5) The President held that many members of the Supreme Court were unfit for their appointment and would throw America back into the Great Depression. (document 3) This might have been true, but its validity did not merit the destruction of our nation's system of checks and balances. Roosevelt may have been able to handle the great power he would command wisely, but among his successors would be many who were less competent than he. (document 2) Checks and balances must exist to prohibit the malicious from access to excessive power.
Roosevelt's New Deal was successful and essential to bring the country out of the Great Depression. Under the Roosevelt Administration, four million unemployed found work in a single year. Roosevelt founded many organizations which provided jobs to the millions of men seeking work. The Home Owners Loan Corporation provided credit. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation lent money to industry and finance. The Agricultural Adjustment Act paid farmers to leave their land fallow and to not raise pigs and lambs. The Civilian Conservation Corps provided three hundred thousand men employment and paid not only the workers but their families as well. (document 1) Many Americans supported the New Deal but when Roosevelt proposed packing the Supreme Court, they disapproved. The entire nation began to protest Roosevelt's intention to pack the court. (document 4)
In short, Roosevelt's New Deal was beneficial but not so vital that it warranted the destruction of the carefully crafted American legal system. Roosevelt wanted a Supreme Court that was as submissive as his Congress. The uncertainty of the Constitution in reference to the quantity of appointees in the court permitted this abomination. The New Deal was great for America. Therefore, America endorsed it until Roosevelt proposed packing the court. Roosevelt's New Deal provided an excellent platform for the United States to recover from the Depression. Unfortunately, Roosevelt sullied his reputation by packing the Supreme Court.