The First Hundred Days refers to March 9-June 16, 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed an unprecedented wave of New Deal legislation through Congress, including the Emergency Banking Act, CCC, and FERA, to deliver relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression.
The First Hundred Days is the opening stretch of FDR's presidency, March 9 to June 16, 1933, when Congress passed more major legislation than in any comparable period in U.S. history. Roosevelt took office with banks collapsing, roughly a quarter of workers unemployed, and public confidence in shambles. He responded with speed. Within days he declared a bank holiday and signed the Emergency Banking Act; within weeks came the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and the framework that would create the FDIC.
Think of the Hundred Days as the launchpad of the New Deal. It is where the "relief, recovery, reform" formula you learn for Topic 7.9 actually starts. The CED frames this as policymakers responding to mass unemployment by transforming the U.S. into a limited welfare state (KC-7.1.III), and the Hundred Days is when that transformation visibly began. It also kicked off the stronger financial regulation that the Depression's credit and market instability demanded (KC-7.1.I.C).
This term lives in Topic 7.9 (The Great Depression) in Unit 7: Progressivism to WWII, 1890-1945, and it directly supports learning objective APUSH 7.9.A, explaining the causes of the Great Depression and its effects. The Hundred Days is your best evidence for two essential-knowledge statements. First, KC-7.1.I.C says credit and market instability led to calls for stronger financial regulation, and the Emergency Banking Act and FDIC are exactly that response. Second, KC-7.1.III says 1930s policymakers built a limited welfare state and redefined modern American liberalism. The Hundred Days is the moment that redefinition began, when Americans started expecting the federal government to act directly in the economy. That shift in expectations is one of the biggest continuity-and-change threads running from Period 7 into the rest of the course.
Keep studying APUSH Unit 7
New Deal (Unit 7)
The First Hundred Days is the opening chapter of the New Deal, not the whole thing. The Hundred Days produced the "First New Deal" relief and recovery programs, while later legislation like Social Security (1935) belongs to the Second New Deal.
Emergency Banking Act (Unit 7)
Passed in FDR's first week, this was the signature move of the Hundred Days. It paired a national bank holiday with federal inspection of banks, and it shows KC-7.1.I.C in action: market instability producing a stronger regulatory system.
Fireside Chats (Unit 7)
FDR's first radio chat explained the banking fix in plain language, and deposits flowed back into banks. The Hundred Days worked partly because FDR sold it directly to the public, a new style of presidential communication.
Progressive Era reform (Unit 7)
The Hundred Days did not invent federal intervention from scratch. It scaled up the Progressive idea that government should fix economic problems, turning regulation-era impulses into a full limited welfare state.
No released FRQ has used "First Hundred Days" verbatim, but the concept sits inside one of the most-tested storylines in Unit 7: how the New Deal transformed the role of the federal government. On multiple choice, expect stems built on excerpts from FDR's 1933 inaugural address or political cartoons about the flood of "alphabet agencies," asking you to identify the historical situation (the banking crisis, mass unemployment) or the result (a limited welfare state). For SAQs and essays, the Hundred Days gives you precise, dated evidence. Naming the Emergency Banking Act, CCC, or FERA with the March-June 1933 window is far stronger than a vague "FDR passed programs." It also powers continuity-and-change arguments comparing the New Deal to Progressive Era reform before it or to later expansions of federal power.
The First Hundred Days is a specific time window (March 9-June 16, 1933); the New Deal is the entire program of relief, recovery, and reform that ran through the 1930s. Everything from the Hundred Days is part of the New Deal, but major New Deal landmarks like Social Security (1935) and the Wagner Act (1935) came later, during the Second New Deal. If a question asks about 1935 legislation, "Hundred Days" is the wrong label.
The First Hundred Days ran from March 9 to June 16, 1933, and produced an unprecedented burst of legislation responding to the Great Depression.
Key Hundred Days measures include the bank holiday, the Emergency Banking Act, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
The Hundred Days launched the New Deal but did not complete it; Second New Deal programs like Social Security came in 1935.
Per the CED, these actions began transforming the U.S. into a limited welfare state and redefined modern American liberalism (KC-7.1.III).
Banking and financial measures from this period answer KC-7.1.I.C, where market instability led to a stronger federal regulatory system.
Use specific Hundred Days legislation as dated evidence in essays about the expanding role of the federal government in the 1930s.
It was the period from March 9 to June 16, 1933, when FDR and Congress passed a rapid wave of New Deal legislation, including the Emergency Banking Act, CCC, and FERA, to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression.
No. The Hundred Days is the first three months of FDR's presidency, while the New Deal is the entire 1930s program. The Hundred Days launched the First New Deal, but landmarks like Social Security (1935) belong to the later Second New Deal.
No. It restored confidence in the banking system and put millions into relief programs, but the Depression dragged on through the 1930s, and full recovery came only with World War II mobilization. The Hundred Days matters for changing the government's role, not for instantly fixing the economy.
The biggest ones for APUSH are the Emergency Banking Act (March 1933), the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and the Glass-Steagall banking reforms that created the FDIC. Together they cover relief, recovery, and financial reform.
It is your most concrete evidence for learning objective APUSH 7.9.A and the CED's claim that 1930s policymakers built a limited welfare state and redefined American liberalism. Naming dated Hundred Days legislation makes your SAQ and essay evidence specific instead of vague.
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