Great Depression DBQ

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The Great Depression was triggered after the stock market crashed in 1929. It was a period of downfall in the economy. This had a great effect on workers, unemployed, and minorities. The amount of unemployed workers increased dramatically. Along with many unemployed workers, it came with 2 long term causes: Many countries were in great debt because of the outcome of World War 1 and banks failed. Hoover got elected because believed in rugged individualism (people are responsible for their successes and failures) and voluntary cooperation (businesses and workers should work together to solve depression). His way of handling the depression was through a wait and see approach. FRD beat Hoover for presidency in 1932. He created programs and …show more content…

The New Deal provided aids and employment to young Americans. In Document 1,it shows that “the NYA helped boost family incomes so that children could stay in school.” This helps prove that the New Deal was a success because it gave money to the children who couldn’t get it from their parents or others. The New Deal also provided relief to the unemployed. A lot of jobs were provided while the unemployment rate dropped. In document 5, it showed that the unemployment rate decreased throughout the years.The unemployment rate dropped 18.7% from 1933-1945. The amount of people working again showed that the New Deal was a success. Lastly, the New Deal provided relief to the elderly. As people got older, they were not able to work as much as they used to. In Document 8, it showed the monthly checks that were given to the retired people and even people with disabilities. The Social Security Act in Document 8 allows the federal government to give checks to cover the elderly who cannot work any longer. This program provided relief to the people who needed it the …show more content…

The chart in document 3 shows the amount of money the government owed. The government spent billions of dollars which people thought was a waste of money. Even though the government was in debt, the money was being spent on direct relief programs to the people in need. Secondly, people believed the New Deal was a failure because the programs discriminated against blacks. Document 7 showed how one of the New Deal programs, AAA, forced more than 100,000 blacks off the land in 1933. People believed that the New Deal programs took jobs away from blacks. This is why people thought the New Deal was a failure because it discriminated against the blacks. Lastly, people believe that the amount of employed people would cause less profits for businesses since the wages became better. In Document 2, it displayed the conflict of creating jobs for people. They believed that the government would not be able to expand its relief activities which would lead to a disaster to all classes. Since the government is in too much debt to support programs, then people think the New Deal failed to make the economy

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