Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism Speech | Primary Source Essentials

0:00 Welcome to Primary Source Essentials. In this episode, we are going to briefly examine Franklin Roosevelt’s 1944 state of the Union address and how he attempted to redefine rights and government responsibility. In 1944, President Roosevelt was serving his third term as president and would go on to be reelected for a fourth term later that year.

0:24 For 12 years, FDR had overseen the New Deal, which was a massive expansion of the scale and scope of the federal government to deal with the problem of the Great Depression. While World War Two and a coalition of opposition from Republicans and Southern Democrats had quelled further domestic reform during the war.

0:45 FDR envisioned a new reform agenda after the war, as the tide of the war was turning in favor of the allies. FDR looked ahead and proposed redefining the nature of rights and government obligations. In his 1944 state of the Union, also known as the second Bill of rights speech, FDR laid out his vision.

1:09 He made the claim that necessities men are not free, and that economic rights were self-evident. His new list of rights included a job with enough pay for adequate food and recreation, the right to adequate medical care, the right to a decent home, and adequate protection

1:30 from economic fears and old age and unemployment. Among several others. Whereas the rights of the founding were negative, meaning that no 1st May interfere with them. FDR, his list of rights was positive, meaning that the government must provide them. However vaguely defined, FDR won an unprecedented

1:53 fourth term but died in office in April 1945. His successors were able to get much of his agenda passed into law. Though his understanding of positive economic rights is still hotly debated today. Thanks for watching and check out the other videos in Primary Source Essentials.