Great Depression DBQ

The America in the 1930s was drastically different from the luxurious 1920s. The stock market had crashed to an all time low, unemployment was the highest the country had ever seen, and all American citizens were affected by it in some way or another. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was effective in addressing the issues of The Great Depression in the sense that it provided immediate relief to US citizens by lowering unemployment, increasing trust in the banks, getting Americans out of debt, and preventing future economic crisis from taking place through reform. Despite these efforts The New Deal failed to end the depression. In order for America to get out of this economic

In 1929, the United States economy appears to be good and strong, at the moment; all Americans have some extra money or credit to buy some extra goods. The good economy was reflected in the Stock market, profits were big, more and more people invested in Stocks. In addition, farmers produced more wheat, cotton, corn, etc. and industries produced more goods that the needed to supply the country (over production), farmers’ and industries owners’ ambition make them produce more and more crops and goods. Americans using credit to buy goods they can’t pay, everyone investing all its savings on the stock market, overproduction on farm and industry area, plus America's new way of think, and other economic factors, make the economy of the country less strong, produce more unemployment and as result pushing the country into the Great Depression.

The stock market crash of 1929 sent the nation spiraling into a state of economic paralysis that became known as the Great Depression. As industries shrank and businesses collapsed or cut back, up to 25% of Americans were left unemployed. At the same time, the financial crisis destroyed the life savings of countless Americans (Modern American Poetry). Food, housing and other consumable goods were in short supply for most people (Zinn 282). This widespread state of poverty had serious social repercussions for the country.

Historians argue what caused the Great Depression, some say it was due to the stock market, others say it may be the war debt or overproduction. To believe the Great Depression was caused by only one event is naive. It was caused by a multitude of problems that the government failed to fix.

As people became unemployed, the economy suffered because these workers were unable to purchase things. For example, Document 4 shows that at the beginning of 1933, the US employment percentage was above a quarter of the population, and from 1931 to 1940 the unemployment percentage was in the double digits. These large unemployment percentages had a devastating effect on companies who were trying to sell their products to consumers who are always a major driver of the economy. High unemployment along with the stock market crash were a few of the main causes of the Great

The Great Depression was a time of great economic tragedy during the 1930’s. October 24, 1929 was the day of the stock market crash, causing economical shortage everywhere, even globally, and this scared everyone, including the rich. This day was/ is known as “Black Thursday”, where over 2.9 million shares were traded. On “Black Tuesday”, five days later, more than 16 million more shares were traded in another wave of panic. Many investors then lost confidence in their banks and demanded deposits in cash which forced the banks to liquidate loans in order to supplement their on hand cash reserves. By 1933, around 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. This stopped Americans from purchasing which then led to less production of goods and decreased the amount of needed human labor. In the end, millions of shares ended up worthless, and those investors who had bought stocks with borrowed money were wiped out completely.

The economic expansion of the 1920’s, with its increased production of goods and high profits, culminated in immense consumer speculation that collapsed with disastrous results in 1929 causing America’s Great Depression. There were a number or contributing factors to the depression, with the largest and most important one being a general loss of confidence in the American economy. The reason it escalated was a general misunderstanding of recessions by American policymakers of the time.

When the citizens had bought all that they could buy, there was a decrease in demand. Suddenly, the industries had an excess of goods and no one to sell it to. At this point, the Fordney-McCumber Act began to cripple the economy of America. Other nations introduced high tariffs to boost their revenue and to spite the United States. Sadly for the United States, these high tariffs and low demand were instrumental in the depression that America experienced. When the stock market crashed on October 29th, 1929 or “Black Tuesday”, the united states, along with other nations were in economic turmoil and the widespread prosperity of the 1920s ended abruptly. The depression threatened people's jobs, savings, and even their homes and farms. During the heart of the depression, over one-quarter of the American population was out of work. For many Americans, these were extremely hard times. When Roosevelt was voted into office, he introduced the New Deal. While this plan tried to help the united states out of it’s isolationist rut, the second world war was the final solution. Mobilizing the economy for world war finally cured the depression. Millions of men and women joined the armed forces, and even larger numbers went to work in well-paying defence jobs.

After 1927, consumer spending declined and housing construction slowed. Inventories piled up, and in1928 and 1929 manufacturers began to cut back on production and lay off workers. Reduced income and buying power in turn reinforced the downturn. By the summer of 1929 the economy was clearly in a recession. Although the stock market crash and its immediate consequences contributed to the Great Depression, longstanding weakness in the American economy accounted for its length and severity. Agriculture, in particular, had never recovered from the recession of 1920-1921. Farmers faced high fixed costs for equipment and mortgages incurred during the high inflationary war years. At the same time prices fell because of overproduction, forcing farmers to default on mortgage payments and risk foreclosure. Because farmers accounted for about one-forth of the nations gainfully employed workers in 1929, their difficulties weakened the general economic structure. Other industries also had experienced economic setbacks during the prosperous 1920s. The older industries such as textiles, mining, lumbering, and shipping faltered, newer and more successful consumer- based industries, such as chemicals, appliances, and food processing, proved not yet strong enough to lead the way to recovery.

In the 1920s, American economy had a great time. The vast majority of Americans in 1929 foresaw a continuation of the dizzying economic growth that had taken place in most of the decade. However, the prices of stock crested in early September of 1929. The price of stock fell gradually during most of September and early October. On “Black Tuesday” 29 October 1929, the stock market fell by forty points. After that, a historically great and long economic depression started and lasted until the start of the Second World War. The three causes of the Great Depression are installment buying, uneven distribution of wealth and the irrational behavior in the stock market.

Many people think that the Great Depression was caused solely by the stock market crash. Anybody who tells you this probably didn’t pass U.S. History in high school. The fact is, the Great Depression was caused many different factors. Four of which were overproduction, uneven distribution of wealth, protective tariffs, and the four “sick industries” of the 1920’s.

During the inception of the Great Depression and the fall of the stock exchange market, USA suffered tremendous economic downturn.

The Great Depression of 1929 is said to have many causes. In an article on about.com Martin Kelly states there were five main causes of the Great Depression. First is the stock market crash

It got so bad due to a misunderstanding of a slump by American policymakers. This became a problem.

There are various factors that led to the Great Depression. To begin, the lack of bank regulation was a big factor. The Federal Reserve Act which made banks have money on reserve, was not enforced. Another big factor was easy credit, Easy credit made it easy for people to get money out the bank without having the money to pay it back. Furthermore, the reduction in purchasing across the board can easily be said to be another key factor. With the stock market being down many people within every social class stop purchasing items. Which would cause a decreased not only the number of items being purchased but also the loss of people jobs. Many people had thing on layaway, so usually they would just pay for it monthly. However once they lost their