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Great Depression DBQ

Decent Essays

“What caused the Great Depression?” The Great Depression was one of America’s most influential stepping stones. It helped shape society and the economy for the better, but it caused the most damage. Millions nationwide were affected by the economic fall. Unemployment rates were high and more than thousands were forced to leave their homes. They left their homes in hopes of finding a better life somewhere else, but no matter where they went it was the same. Americans nationwide were in debt and struggling to survive. The danger of stock investments, high unemployment rates, and Americans debts from the new credit plan all contributed to the economy decline, also known as the Great Depression of 1929-1940. Society had glorified the idea of investing in stocks and how benefitting it was to the average American, but not many looked into how risky it was to put any money into the stocks. Many investing in stocks around this time hadn’t bothered to pay attention to the patterns, making it even riskier to blindly invest in any assets. In Document A, the author says, “If he invests in good common stocks and allows the dividends... to accumulate, he will end at …show more content…

People bought items they couldn’t afford and paid for them later. The big problems of this was that people couldn’t afford to pay their debts most of time. In Document D, it says “60 per cent of all automobiles and furniture...In other words, consumers bought goods on installment at a rate faster than their income was expanding”. Many people were aware that they might not be able to pay this off, but they continued to buy things only to have it build up. Also, In Document I, it talks about how the Hawley-Smoot Tariff come into place. America was a debtor nation, meaning American citizens owed foreign investors three billion. By the end of 1919, America became a creditor nation. The new tariff had changed up world trades and other countries were

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