Social+Security+Act

=**The Social Security Act**= By Emily Miller-McGlone

The Social Security Act was enacted in 1935. It was formed as a type of insurance provided by the federal government to workers. It was to be funded by a tax on the worker and the employer. At the beginning it only covered about half of the workers in the country.

The Social Security Act arose in part to respond to the Great Depression. However, its roots go all the way back to the Industrial Revolution. As people moved to the city for work they were less likely to live in extended families. This meant that they had to find other ways to support themselves when they became too old to work. In the Stock Market Crash of 1929, people who had put all of their money into stocks were left with nothing.

As the Great Depression went on unemployment was extremely high. President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed some programs through which turned out to be not as helpful as he had hoped. Beginning in 1935 the President and Congress began passing laws that would help many more people. The Social Security Act was one of them.

The President turned to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. She was the first woman who was ever appointed to a President's cabinet. He wanted her to write a bill that would cover everyone from birth. The main opposition came from businesses. Many employers wanted to be exempt from it if they created their own pension plans. Others saw it as government intrusion in private matters. Secretary Perkins saw this so she wrote a more limited bill.

The Social Security Act is the largest Government program in the world. Since it passed it has expanded to cover many more categories. Recently people have been very worried that it is going to run out of money. Today it covers retired people, widows, widowers, disabled people and their children, and the children whose parents have died. Now it include medicare and other benefits.

//ABC-CLIO: American History//. N.p., 18 May 2010. Web. 18 May 2010. .
 * Bibliography**

"The Social Security Act." //Encyclopedia AMERICANA//. Vol. 25. Danbury, Connecticut: Scholastic Library Publishing, Inc., 1829. 133-134. Print. 30 vols.

"Social Security (United States)." //Wikipedia//. N.p., 16 May 2010. Web. 18 May 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_(United_States)

Viola, Herman J. //Why We Remember//. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, 2007. Print.