What Are The Causes Of The Great Depression Dbq

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Daniel Kern H U.S. History Mr. Moran May 16, 2012 The Great Depression The Great Depression started in October of 1929 on Black Tuesday and continued until the beginning of World War Two in 1940. The Depression made a big impact on the American people and how they lived their lives. Things people used to take advantage of such as jobs now became very scarce. People started to become very cautious of what they did. The Great Depression ended in 1940 because of WWII which gave men jobs after they got selected out of the draft. The Great Depression started because of various problems which include the business cycle, spending problems, wealth distribution, stock market crash, and tariffs. The United States Business…show more content…
D). This day turned out to be a huge wake up call to people. It told people that the crisis going on in America happened to be very serious. This day caused a country-wide panic. Black Tuesday started the downward spiral in America’s economy during this time. This day; however, did not cause the Great Depression. People started to read in the newspapers that banks started to close down because money slowly started to decrease. This got the people very scared and everyone rushed to the banks and tried to take all of their savings out (Doc. L). The banks were unable to do this because they barely had any money remaining which got the people very upset. This event helped create the Federal Reserve which gives money to those who did not get it because the bank ran out. The stock market for automobiles is doing very well because everyone is getting cars to get to places easier. But suddenly when everyone has a car the stock for automobiles goes down because people do not need a new car every month (Doc. M). This meant fewer cars had to be built which meant fewer workers had to be employed. Everyone had bought everything they needed and now they stopped buying things. The bad thing people did was that they bought on credit and now had to pay all of their…show more content…
On the graph, “U.S. Family Income Distribution”, it shows the average families income in 1929 (Doc. K). The poverty line in 1929 is at $2,000 or below. During 1929, 60% of the population is barely getting by while making $2,000 and in the meantime the wealthy are getting richer. This is an obvious example of how the wealth is not distributed equally. Many people struggle to support their family with the jobs they have at the time. A general cotton mill worker in an interview by Paul Blanshard tells how she can barely make it by with her job. She cannot afford clothes or food she has to make both of them by herself. This life the average cotton mill worker lives is better than the farmers’ lives however which is very bad (Doc. I). Many people live a very hard life in the 20’s. In this interview it shows how below the prosperity in the 1920’s there is poverty and many people are struggling to support themselves and their
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