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Great Depression Dbq Essay

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The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United States. (Document A) It began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929 and lasted a decade. During the Great Depression consumer spending and investment decreased. Thus causing declines in industrial output and the rising of unemployment. (Document E) By 1933 the Great Depression reached its prime, over thirteen million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected into office in November 1932. He immediate tried to lessen the effects of the Great Depression with the programs of the New Deal? Programs such as Works Progress Administration, Tennessee …show more content…

The cause of the Great Depression was not caused by one problem alone, but several joint problems. The Great Depression was caused by a large percentage of Americans investing in the stock market, installment buying and the multiple bank failures.

At President Calvin Coolidge’s last Annual Message to Congress in 1928 he ended his opening paragraph with “The country can regard the present with satisfaction and anticipate the future with optimism.” (Document B) Unbeknownst to him and the American people, just a year later the United States would start a decade long depression. The Great Depression started off with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. (Document D) The stock market crash was one of the problems that caused the depression because of the amount of people that invested in the stock market. So many people invested in the stock market because it proved to be beneficial. Many people were able to …show more content…

Before the roaring twenties when people had bought all they could afford they would stop buying. During and after the roaring twenties when people had bought all they could afford they would keep spending. (Document M) People kept spending because debt was no longer thought as shameful. “Consumers bought goods on installment at a rate faster than their income was expanding, but it was inevitable that a time would come when they would have to reduce purchases, and the cutback in buying would sap the whole economy.” “Three out of every four radios were purchased on the installment plan, 60 per cent of all automobiles and furniture.” (Document H) So many Americans were installment buying and gathering debt even though sixty percent of Americans were living at, or below the property line of two thousand dollars. (Document K) Since consumers were unable to pay off the debt the companies inevitably lost money. Companies lost so much money that some were forced to lay off workers and even shut down. Over spending and installment buying along with the stock market crash led to many people not only losing their savings but also their

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