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AP US History · Sourcing and situation

A historian argues that the 1935 Social Security Act immediately created a nearly universal old-age insurance system for American workers.…

Committee on Economic Security, 1935

In materials supporting the federal economic-security program, officials proposed a cooperative federal-state system for unemployment compensation. A uniform federal payroll tax would encourage states to enact qualifying unemployment laws, while the states would retain responsibility for administering benefits within federal safeguards. The broader program also included old-age insurance and federal grants supporting state assistance programs. The proposals treated unemployment and old age as recurring economic risks requiring continuing public policy rather than temporary emergency relief.

Adapted from reports and program materials of the President’s Committee on Economic Security, 1935.
A historian argues that the 1935 Social Security Act immediately created a nearly universal old-age insurance system for American workers. Which evidence would most directly qualify that claim?

Answer and explanation

Answer: B: The original old-age insurance provisions excluded several major categories of employment, including agricultural and domestic work

To qualify the claim that the 1935 act created a nearly universal old-age system, a historian needs evidence about who was covered. The original old-age provisions excluded major categories such as agricultural and domestic work, which shows coverage was far from universal, so B is correct. Choice A is tempting because it describes the act, but unemployment compensation says nothing about old-age coverage. Choice C, public-assistance grants, concerns a different program. Choice D explains how old-age insurance was financed, not which workers it reached.

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