Formation of the Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority was created in 1933 as a part of the New Deal by president Franklin Roosevelt. The bill establishing the TVA stated that the TVA was:
"An Act to Improve the Navigability and to Provide for the Flood Control of the Tennessee River: To Provide for Reforestation and the Proper Use of Marginal Lands in the Tennessee Valley; to Provide for the Agricultural and Industrial Development of Said Valley; to Provide for the National Defense by the Creation of a Corporation for the Operation of Government Properties at and Near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama, and for Other Purposes May 18, 1933." (For a link to and citation for the document of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, click here.)
The TVA, as part of the New Deal, was designed to aid the people of the Tennessee Valley because of the Great Depression. However, the organization used its powers more extensively to develop and energize the area. It far surpassed its simple goals of agricultural development,
"An Act to Improve the Navigability and to Provide for the Flood Control of the Tennessee River: To Provide for Reforestation and the Proper Use of Marginal Lands in the Tennessee Valley; to Provide for the Agricultural and Industrial Development of Said Valley; to Provide for the National Defense by the Creation of a Corporation for the Operation of Government Properties at and Near Muscle Shoals in the State of Alabama, and for Other Purposes May 18, 1933." (For a link to and citation for the document of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, click here.)
The TVA, as part of the New Deal, was designed to aid the people of the Tennessee Valley because of the Great Depression. However, the organization used its powers more extensively to develop and energize the area. It far surpassed its simple goals of agricultural development,
the beginning of industry, flood control, and increased use of local governments by further helping modernize the poor, backwards, undeveloped southeast.
Arthur Morgan, first director of the TVA, stated in Sociology of the TVA, in the American Sociological review, that: "[The powers] include bringing about the unified control of the Tennessee River System for navigation, flood control, and power. The Act provides for the development of river terminals and for the disposition of surplus electric power. It also provides for the use of the war-time nitrate plant at Muscle Shoals for the development of fertilizer and for the experimental distribution of that fertilizer. It also provides for the prevention of soil erosion through the use of fertilizer." By providing these services to the Tennessee Valley, the TVA would create jobs which would help alleviate the effects of the Great Depression. The new commodities for southerners, provided by the existence of the TVA, were designed to improve the quality of life in an underdeveloped area. The structural and environmental changes effected by the TVA were also intended to promote economic production in a very poor part of the country by stopping flooding and teaching better agricultural techniques. |
The creation of hydroelectric power at Muscle Schoals, Norris Dam, and other dams was a very important driving force for why the TVA was created by Roosevelt. The dams that created the electricity would also be instrumental in stopping flooding that had been ravishing the areas and destroying crops. Power from the dams was also used for the creation of nitrate for defense purposes and as a fertilizer in the area.
President Roosevelt cited the natural resources of the area, the lack of organized government involvement, and the responsibility of the government for helping its citizens in the midst of a depression as reasons to create the TVA. The act itself expanded the responsibilities of the organization to ultimately provide flood relief, promote regional government, create sustainable farming techniques, distribute affordable electricity, allow for navigation of local rivers, and aid citizens during the Great Depression. And in the eyes of Lilienthal and many other TVA supporters, the people of the Tennessee Valley had been abused and neglected just like the land around them, so the area offered the perfect place for an experiment in regional planning and resource development. (Jamie Woodcock)
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