Great Depression Dbq

The 1920’s was a wild time, full of parties, an increased standard of living, and new innovative gadgets. It was an era of peace and prosperity for Americans nationwide. But every party must come to an end. The thinly veiled failing economy during the 1920’s would ultimately come crashing down right before the dawn of the thirty’s. However, an economy takes a long time and a lot of pressure to fail to the extent of the Great Depression. The main causes of the Great Depression were the income maldistribution which created an unstable economic environment, extreme debt brought about by speculation and installment buying habits, and overproduction that made wages drop even lower than before. The large gap of wealth between the classes was a large

As previously stated, the 20’s were a time of prosperity for America, be as it may, a dangerous illusion. During this time, the standard of living dramatically increased as factories were able to mass produce more and more innovative gadgets, such as the radio and the vacuum cleaner. While the price to live steadily rose, the average annual income, did not. In a table constructed by the data in Frederick Lewis Allen’s The Big Change (Document 9), the annual income and the percent of American families making that income are listed. If “in 1929, a $2000 income was considered the minimum necessary for meeting basic needs of the average US family.” The chart displays how only 60% of American families at the time made made less money than was needed to provide food, water, and shelter for themselves, let alone the new commodities that made life easier. Despite not being able to inherently afford the perks of the era, in attempts to keep up with the established social standards, many people began to live off credit. As William

Despite having been around for over one hundred years, people began developing poor judgement when it came to investments in the late nineteenth century. Out of desire to participate in the ever growing popularity of the stock market, people took out large amounts of stock on an installment plan, with money they did not have. As Harry J. Carmen and Harold C. Syrett described in their publication of A History of the American People, as investing in stocks increased in popularity, “the exchange became more of a betting ring.” (Document 5) and “security prices were forced up by competitive bidding rather than by any fundamental improvement in American (business).” (Document 5). The stock market became a game, a challenge that was not fully thought through. This lead to certain businesses getting ahead of others, not due to their success, but because of the uneducated support they were getting from those who knew nothing about the businesses they were investing in, trying to get rich quick. Since those who took out stocks on installment could not pay them off, the stock market eventually collapsed all together. On October 29, 1929, the New York Times published an issue with the headline “STOCK PRICES SLUMP $14,000,000,000 IN NATION-WIDE STAMPEDE TO UNLOAD” (Document 3). Leading up to the ultimate crash, people began to see it coming and at the last second