How Did The Great Depression Affect America

During the Great Depression, many families were left poor with no income or savings. With manufacturing productions decreasing, prices

In Oscar Ameringer’s, The Plague of Plenty, we see just how devastating overproduction and under-consumption of products was during the years of the Great Depression. Ameringer observed many things while he traveled across the country. In Montana, citizens reported to him that, “thousands of bushels of wheat were left in the field uncut on account of its low price that hardly paid for the harvesting”. In Oregon he saw “thousands of bushels of apples rotting in the orchards”. Yet as Ameringer reports, “At the

The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything.

Everyone scrounged about for small, labor intensive jobs at low wages. Even women and children had to work to subsidize the family income. The recently homeless lived in shantytowns nicknamed “Hoovervilles” after President Hoover who was moving slowly and ineffectually to deal with the Depression (Wikipedia). Little food was available and many had to search garbage heaps and other such locations for any kind of sustenance. The economic crisis had ushered in a decade of unprecedented mass poverty and poor living conditions.

• The United States Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, making it impossible for the United States to join the League of Nations.

The Great Depression was caused by the stock market crash in 1929. The Great Depression was very sad time for Americans, who faced many adversities which ultimately changed the way they lived. During this period of time unemployment rose to nearly 25% of the population, those who did not lost their job saw a dramatic decrease in their pay.

The Great Depression of the 1930’s was caused by many problems. They include overproduction, monetary policy, war debt, tariffs, the stock market crash, and unequal distribution of wealth. These each play a specific and intricate role in bringing the U.S economy to its knees.

The scale of the depression had multiple causes, such as: unregulated banks, American debt, and poor help by the government. Unregulated banks led to many bank failures, especially in rural areas. (Luke). Andrew Jackson’s anti-bank ideas didn’t turn out as good as he probably thought it would. The fact that banks were mostly unsupported by the government, they didn’t have

President Hoover, a determined republican, who faced the impossible task of the Great Depression. The late 1920’s economy was full of superficial prosperity and credit, and an unleveled playing field to most Americans. This causes the fortified nation to unravel at the seams. Speculators were buying on margin and selling at an artificial price. These speculators set up the stock market to plummet. Hoover dwelled his success on his rugged individualism that did not believe in direct federal aid to the people. Hoover should be blames for the worsening of the Great Depression not because he started it, but rather, because he was not able to fix it. Despite having the power of the government behind him, Hoover was unable to launch public

The Great Depression was a devastating time for many Americans. From 1929 to 1932, the US experienced an economic downturn that was calamitous to the lives of many people. Millions upon millions of Americans lost everything when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929. After exiting an era that left people living a life of luxury, the stock market crash came as a surprise. As a result of the stock market crash, many became unemployed and many families were being forced to close their businesses. Although there were many factors that contributed to the cause of the Great Depression, the three main causes were The Stock Market Crash of 1929, high unemployment, a decrease in consumer purchases due to being “stuffed with stuff” during the roaring twenties.

A disaster that occurred in the economy was known as the Great Depression which affected people socially, economically, and politically. In 1928 President Herbert Hoover gets elected president of the United States. It was not easy for people at this time. They learn many things like once the banks recover they do not trust them anymore. The Great Depression lasted 10 years.

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.

The production industry had a major impact on 1930s or before and after the Great Depression. This timeframe changed the whole industry dramatically and helped transform it into what we have today. The Great Depression forced many factories to shut down and many people lost their jobs because of it. After the Great Depression, some of these factories were revived and transformed into newer and more advanced ones (“The 1930s”).

     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 Great Depression is a defining moment in time for not only American, but world history. This was a time that caused political, economical, and social unrest. Not only did the Great Depression cause a world wide panic, it also caused a world wide crisis unlike any before it. This paper will analyze both the causes and the effects of the Great Depression in the United States of America.