New Left Historians

Examples of New Left Historians in the following topics:

• A Halfway Revolution

  • The New Deal is often called the "halfway revolution," because many argue that the New Deal did not go far enough.
  • The New Deal has often been called the "halfway revolution. " Essentially, this critique of the New Deal claims that the New Deal did not go far enough in its social or economic reforms.
  • Despite the criticisms that the New Deal did not go "far enough," the New Deal was at least a "halfway" revolution, a major step for liberalism in the United States.
  • Conservatives feared the New Deal meant socialism; Roosevelt noted privately in 1934 that the "old line press harps increasingly on state socialism and demands the return to the good old days. " However, the New Deal's record also came under attack by New Left historians in the 1960s for not attacking capitalism more vigorously, nor helping blacks achieve equality.
  • In this way, it is argued that the New Deal was only a "halfway revolution. "

• Conclusion: The Legacy of the New Deal

  • However, historians continue to debate the significance and legacy of the New Deal.
  • William Leuchtenburg, a foremost historian of the era who is considered Roosevelt's "sympathetic critic," called the New Deal a "halfway revolution."
  • Other historians assess the legacy of the New Deal depending on their own political stand.
  • New Left historians in the 1960s criticized Roosevelt and the New Deal for not attacking capitalism more vigorously and not helping African Americans achieve equality.
  • Historians agree that the New Deal resulted in critical changes in the U.S. political landscape.

• Anti-Slavery Resistance Movements

  • Slave resistance in the antebellum South did not gain the attention of academic historians until the 1940s when historian Herbert Aptheker started publishing the first serious scholarly work on the subject.
  • They also evacuated slaves from New York, taking more than 3,000 for resettlement to Nova Scotia, where they were recorded as Black Loyalists and given land grants.
  • The 1811 German Coast Uprising, which took place outside of New Orleans, involved up to 500 slaves.
  • Fears afterward led to new legislation passed by southern states prohibiting the movement, assembly, and education of slaves, and reducing the rights of free people of color.
  • It almost succeeded, had it not been for Brown's delay, and hundreds of slaves left their plantations to join Brown's force, and others left their plantations to join Brown in an escape to the mountains.

• The Roosevelt Administration

  • The disease left him paralyzed from the waist down and in its aftermath, FDR focused on his legal career.
  • Many New Deal reforms were no longer necessary.
  • Some historians argue that the remains of the coalition existed as late as the end of the 1980s.
  • Some historians also note that FDR's decision not to accept Jewish refugees during World War II contributed to their eventual death in war-torn Europe.  
  • FDR is consistently ranked one of the top 2 or 3 greatest presidents in the nation's history by historians and public opinion polls.

• The Great Depression and the New Deal

  • The New Deal was a series of economic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1936.
  • The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
  • Many historians distinguish a "First New Deal" (1933–34) and a "Second New Deal" (1935–38), with the second one being more liberal and more controversial.
  • Eisenhower (1953–61) left the New Deal largely intact, even expanding it in some areas.
  • The New Deal regulation of banking (Glass–Steagall Act) was suspended in the 1990s.

• FK Grade 6 Reading Level

  • Alexander the Great left his legacy by spreading Greek culture through Asia, though his empire fell apart after his death.
  • His historians recorded information about the areas he conquered.
  • According to Diodorus, an ancient Greek historian, Alexander's companions asked him who his heir should be.
  • After the assassination of Perdiccas in 321 BCE, Macedonian unity collapsed, and 40 years of war between "The Successors" (Diadochi) ensued before the Hellenistic world settled into four new empires: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and Macedon.

• The Loyalists

  • Colonists in New York, New Jersey, and parts of North and South Carolina were ambivalent about the revolution.
  • Historians estimate that between 15 and 20 percent of European-American colonists supported the Crown; some historians estimate that as much as one third of the population was sympathetic to the British, if not vocally.
  • Key members of the elite families that owned and controlled much of the commerce and industry in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston left the United States, undermining the cohesion of the old upper class and transforming the social structure of the colonies.
  • Recent non-Anglophone immigrants (especially Germans and Dutch), uncertain of their fate under the new regime, also fled.
  • Twenty percent of the Loyalist population in the United States left the country after the war.

• The Legislative Assembly

  • The Left drew its inspiration from the more radical tendency of the Enlightenment, regarded the émigré nobles as traitors, and espoused anticlericalism.
  • They were committed to the ideals of the Revolution, hence generally inclined to side with the Left but would also occasionally back proposals from the Right.
  • Some historians dispute these numbers and estimate that the Legislative Assembly consisted of about 165 Feuillants (the Right), about 330 Jacobins (including Girondins; the Left), and about 350 deputies, who did not belong to any definite party but voted most often with the Left.
  • The differences emerge from how historians approach data in primary sources, where numbers reported by the clubs do not overlap with analyses of club membership conducted independently by name.
  • Chaos persisted until the National Convention, elected by universal male suffrage and charged with writing a new constitution, met on September 20, 1792 and became the new de facto government of France.

• The New York School

  • The New York School was an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s and 1960s in New York City.
  • Some artists from New York, such as Norman Bluhm and Sam Francis, took advantage of the GI Bill and left for Europe, to return later with acclaim.
  • Many artists from all across the U.S. arrived in New York City to seek recognition, and by the end of the decade the list of artists associated with the New York School had greatly increased.
  • According to the critic, historian, and curator Bruce Altshuler, "It appeared as though a line had been crossed, a step into a larger art world whose future was bright with possibility."
  • Explain what the New York School is known for and who its proponents were

• Legislative Leadership

  • Roosevelt was deeply committed to conserving natural resources, and historians largely consider him as the nation's first conservation president.
  • By the time he left office in 1908, Roosevelt set aside more federal land, national parks, and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined.
  • Forest Service, oversaw the creation of five National Parks, and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, which established 18 new U.S. national monuments.