Civil Rights

14 Pages 3511 Words

increased the size of the federal government, and ended the US’s sense of isolation from the rest of the world.
Politically, the most significant change was the growth in the size and importance of the federal government. By the 1960’s, it set minimum wages, oversaw labor relations, and financial markets, regulated interstate trade, levied and collected taxes. It also constructed highways, subsidized farming, and controlled a big military. Because of this, Americans looked to the federal government to solve their problems. They also had greater faith in Washington than in previous decades.
At the same time, policies enacted by the federal government often reinforced segregation and racial inequality. The Federal Housing Authority adopted explicit rules that gave way to segregation to ensure community stability in urban areas. Federal agricultural policies pushed mechanization, which threw many African Americans off the land, while at the same time it benefited white landowners. Urban renewal projects in the 1950’s and 1960â...