Social Security Dbq

The Social Security Act came to be because of two separate factors, the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression. You see, before these two events which shaped the United States to what we know it as today security for the elderly came from another source. In this time prior to the 1930’s America was almost entirely an agricultural nation. A typical life in this period would be to grow up on the farm working the land until you were too old to do so. Once this occurred your extended family would take care of you until you passed away, so there was no need for social security. But, as all good things must come to an end so did this fairy tale world where blood actually was thicker than water. The industrial revolution was what started it …show more content…
The original members of this board included John G. Winant, Arthur J. Altmeyer, and Vincent M. Miles. The duties of the SSB encompassed such things as delegating to the public how earnings were to be reported and what benefits were available to them. For Social Security to be effective though the United States government had much more to do. The biggest thing on this to-do list was to register all employers and employees by the deadline January 1, 1937 when they would start receiving credits towards their old age insurance benefits. To do this the government contracted with the United States Postal Service to deliver applications to the American people. Over 35 million SSN cards were issued via this mass registration between 1936 and 1937 …show more content…
The amendments added two new benefits, which included payment to the spouse and minor children of a retired worker and payment to the family of a worker in the event of a premature death. The 1939 amendments also increased the benefit amounts and quickened the start of monthly benefit checks from 1942 to 1940. The next set of amendments came in 1950. These were to increase the amount of the benefits as they were still very low. In fact until 1951, welfare assistance for the elderly actually exceeded Social Security benefits. A COLA or a cost-of-living-adjustment was first issued after the 1950 amendments. This initial COLA called for a 77% increase in Social Security pay outs. From that point on benefits increased only when Congress said so. However, in 1972 the law was changed so that Social Security received annual COLAs based on consumer prices. In 1954 an amendment provided for a disability insurance program. Then in 1956 the Social Security Act was amended again to provide disabled workers age 50-65 and disabled adult children benefits. Eventually disabled workers at any age were able to qualify these benefits. The next most significant amendment came in 1961 when the age at which men were first able to receive retirement benefits was lowered to 62. Also, the policy of medicare was enacted during this time. Under medicare health coverage was extended to social security beneficiaries aged 65 and older.

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