How Did The Decline Of Free Trade In The 19th Century

The 1922 Forney-McCumber Act was another policy that would lead to the Great Depression. This was based off of the idea of protectionism and a successor to the 1913 Underwood-Simmons Tariff. During the Great War, the agriculture industry enjoyed great prosperity due to the fact that the Americans were exporting large supplies of food to Europe (Kaplan). After the war, the output of American goods would decrease because Europe will no

The closing days of the 1920’s were a start of what would be the worst economic disaster that had ever been witnessed. The effect that the Great Depression had on capitalist countries such as Germany and the United States, was that their stocks and shares heavy economy plunged, leaving businesses unable to trade, and poverty throughout the nation. In the case of France, the depression initially did not suddenly bring the economy down drastically as it had to the more industrialised nations. Although relatively unscathed at first, by 1931 the ripple effect had hit France which steamrolled the economic downturn of the French economy. With France following the gold standard, the economic downturn lasted much longer than other affected

The agriculture sector suffered as well, with the expansion of farms during WWI, tools, and the latest equipment was purchased, causing the price of food to raise. Farmers also borrowed money for their growth and when people wasn’t buying the over priced vegetables, meats and fruits. The financial institutions foreclosed on property and capital equipment.

In the beginning of the 19th century the British began to trade opium, an illegal drug, for tea with China which caused, “...the first Opium War...which resulted in a Chinese defeat and the expansion of British trading privileges...”This discrepancy in the trading relationship between the Chinese and the British caused China’s to forfeit their trading territory to the British. The outcome of the Opium War was a setback for the Chinese. Places where the Chinese previously conducted business was no longer available. Economical wars were not uncommon: “During the mercantilist period…a military...would deter attacks by other countries and aid its own territorial expansion.” The focus of many governments became to protect their economy by constantly gaining more territory to increase business. The change of China’s trade routes could have negatively affected the economy. If the Chinese economy were to weaken it could affect the economies of other countries that China interacted with. The Columbian Exchange, a network of trade routes throughout the world, caused the environment to change as, “ ...Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips...raveled west across the Atlantic, and New World crops...traveled east to Europe.” The exchanging of crops between the New World and the Old World, two different geographical areas,

With the static money supply in the 1880s, farmers suffered from a deflationary impact on the price of goods. They were forced to grow three times their products in order to pay off their mortgages with its high interest rates. The enlarged national market became an issue when Americans began buying imported goods rather than domestic goods. Farmers were left with a surplus of goods, but no consumers. Eventually, the government decided to step in and place the Mckinley Tariff on all foreign goods in an effort to get Americans to begin buying more domestic goods. However, the tariff not only indirectly reduced the national market, but also hurt the farmers because they were unable to keep up with the rising prices of imported farm machinery. The second Industrial Revolution was only able to briefly benefit the U.S.

When the war was declared, the trading of goods was interrupted. Since Americans were not able to obtain the goods they needed, they had to rely upon themselves to produce goods they normally would have imported from other

It is a known fact that war causes inflation which makes the prices of everything go higher as well as taxes. After World War I instead of going back down the prices continued to rise which helped to contribute to the deep depression felt during the Great Depression.

President Hoover believed that the primary cause of the Great Depression was World War One because of debts and reparations it created. Under the Versailles Treaty, Germany was liable to pay $33 million in reparations to France and Britain. To pay the money, Germany had to borrow money from American banks. Similarly, France and Britain also owed America $10 million, some of which they paid back with German reparations. Then, credit in America dried up and the economies of France and Britain also failed.

In the lead-up to WWI, the United States faced a variety of economic fortunes and misfortunes. After the Civil War, there had been unprecedented economic growth, however the Panic of 1873, shook the economy to its core. Recovering from the Panic took the recovery of American industries, such as tobacco farming and cotton. However, competition in both of these areas had increased and markets that previously relied on American exports, such as Great Britain, had found, or created, new sources for these goods. That left the US in a position where it needed to find new markets for its goods. And if Europe wasn’t that market, then it had to be South or East.

The economy of the United States became stronger because of the war. The war did not physically hurt the United States. There was no damage done. Manufacturing and factories saw a positive impact. Due to the war, factories were needed to manufacture materials for the war. Due to the increase of manufacturing, the United States became an industrial leader. The economy was doing well, along with making profits. Due to the economy strengthening, the 1920s became known as the “Roaring Twenties.”

When World War I ended in 1918, it had many unforeseen economic consequences. Despite a stable economy when entering the war, the political consequences of World War I helped to spread and exacerbate the Great Depression. After the war, Germany had millions of dollars in reparations to the winning countries. France and Great Britain had massive damage to their countries and cities, all of which required rebuilding. The United States recognized a need and was more than willing to lend to these countries. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, U.S. banks started to fail, and began to call in these foreign loans and refused to lend more. Results of the Great Depression include a decline

     During the 1920’s, four of America’s leading industries began to struggle. First, railroads had difficulties because of the growing competition from cars, trucks, and busses. Second, textiles floundered because of the foreign competition from India, China, Japan, and Latin America. Furthermore, the revolutionary transformation in women clothing reduced the amount of material needed and thus lowered the demand for cloth. Third, the coal mining industry struggled because of competition from cheaper, more widely available resources such as natural gas, oil, and hydroelectric power. Fourth, America’s agriculture industry staggered chiefly from overproduction. Many farmers borrowed money to expand their operations and couldn’t pay back their loans because the prices of crops dropped about 50 percent due to foreign agricultural competition.

The world had faced two main economic problems. The first one was the Great Depression in the early of 20th Century. The second was the recent international financial crisis in 2008. The United States and Europe suffered severely for a long time from the great depression. The great depression was a great step and changed completely the economic policy making and the economic thoughts. It was not only an economic situation bit it was also miserable making, made people more attention and aggressive until they might lose their lives. All the society was frightened from losing money, work and stable. In America the housing market was the main factor of the great depression. A crisis of liquidity appeared in the banks forming a credit crunch. This period was influenced by over extended stock market shortage of water in the south and over trusting. The American government put down some regulations to control the productions which were essential for the war.

Another cause of the depression was the lack of prosperity for many groups, and the lack of spending that soon resulted from this. In the early 1920s we know that the United States had a high prosperity. What is less known is that not everyone was sharing the good times. Immigrants from most countries, including those in Africa and Mexico, were sharing the same poor treatment as the Aboriginals in the United States. These groups were not doing well socially or economically and had low paying jobs. Many Americans simply could not afford to pay for many goods, and this created a massive reduction in purchasing. Factory workers suffered greatly from the reduction in purchasing; many factories had no need to keep the high levels of production going, and were forced to fire many employees. More workers still lost their jobs to machinery that could be used to the employers advantage to reduce the spending on wages. People now found themselves unemployed and unable to pay for their items previously purchased through

World War I also effected the economy of United States and the World economy. Stock market crashed in October 1929 in United States, and it marked the beginning of the great depression. Thousands of banks and businesses failed during this time. Agricultural production fell, and unemployment rose quickly. Unemployment commonly exceeded twenty five percent. In 1933 one out of every four American workers was out of a job. Since World War I effected the economies of almost all the countries, the world trade fell off and countries turned to nationalist economic policies that only provoked the problem. Prices of everything were so high that money sometimes was more useful to burn than to spend. Counties had over 280, 000 million dollars in expense during war. The costs of World War I was too big to pay for the world, and the economy of almost all the countries fell down.