The Great Depression

881 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Causes of great depression apworld history

The Great Depression
"In other periods of depression, it has always been possible to see some things which were solid and upon which you could base hope... but as I look around about, I now see nothing to give ground to hope.” This great quote was made by former president, Coolidge. In the great depression people in cities and towns already lost too many jobs. Farmers struggles have already been happening since the 1920s, and farmers tried to do anything to save their farms. However, farmers may have been better off than city folk. The government tried to pitch in multiple times, but did not succeed as people hoped. After the great depression, people were all shaken up and scared. Also Hoover, was not very much liked during this time period either. The great depression was a terrible period, and many people often struggled to get by.
There are many arguments on what started the great depression, but the most common one was the stock market crash. About 14 billion dollars nationwide was lost. Many businesses laid off workers and closed down. Specifically in Dubuque, 2,200 workers lost their job between 1927-1934. However, 13 new businesses opened and employed 300 so only 1,900 people lost their job in between that time. Some families were able to pay rent. Others couldn’t even afford food! Many families went without luxuries like new clothes, appliances, or cars. Young men left their homes on the railroad to look for better job opportunities. Some families considered going on welfare was a last resort. The names of the people who went on welfare was printed in the newspaper, and it was thought to be a very disgraceful. Those who couldn’t make ends meet or didn't go on welfare often starved.
However in farm towns, hard times st...

... middle of paper ...

...ople lost their job, but somehow people remained in union with each other. Farmers tried to help out their fellow farmers and city people made soup kitchens to help those in poverty. Hopefully, this event will never happen again, and if it does God help us all.

Works Cited

"The Great Depression Begins--in the 1920s « Iowa Pathways." The Great Depression Begins--in the 1920s « Iowa Pathways. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
"The Great Depression Hits Farms and Cities in the 1930s « Iowa Pathways." The Great Depression Hits Farms and Cities in the 1930s « Iowa Pathways. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
"Great Depression QuotesFrom 1929-1935." Great Depression Quotes... Sayings from 1929-1935 to Make You Think. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
"Iowa's Hardest Years: Stories from the Farms during the Great Depression." The Des Moines Register. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • FDR Election DBQ Essay

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Roaring Twenties, people started buying household materials and stocks that they could not pay for in credit. Farmers, textile workers, and miners all got low wages. In 1929, the stock market crashed. All of these events started the Great Depression. During the beginning of the Great Depression, 9000 banks were closed, ending nine million savings accounts. This lead to the closing of eighty-six thousand businesses, a European depression, an overproduction of food, and a lowering of prices. It also led to more people going hungry, more homeless people, and much lower job wages. There was a 28% increase in the amount of homeless people from 1929 to 1933. And in the midst of the beginning of the Great Depression, President Hoover did nothing to improve the condition of the nation. In 1932, people decided that America needed a change. For the first time in twelve years, they elected a democratic president, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Immediately he began to work on fixing the American economy. He closed all banks and began a series of laws called the New Laws. L...

    Read More

  • Digging In By Robert J. Hastings Essay

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    The great depression was a very sad and hard time. This was a time where people had little money, no available jobs and just had a hard time with everything. Many people had nd any way to make money whether it was cutting kid’s hair in neighborhood, picking fruit, selling iron cords house to house or even painting a house for 5 dollars. Even though this was a very hard time some people still had hope that things would get better. This was a really bad time until Franklin Roosevelt who was for the government supporting the Americans and not the other way around became president.

    Read More

  • The Dust Bowl: Farming in the 1930s

    631 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hard Times’ ‘The Dirty 30s’ ‘The Great Depression’ (Ganzel n. pag.)This quote describes so much about 1930’s especially farming. Farming was hard because there was a really bad drought. Was out they rain no crops could grow. And the crops can't hold the soil together and not blow away. Which was really bad for the soil to blow away. Also the farmers didn't know that the equipment they were using would tear up the soil too much and it would blow away. The farming in the 1930s was bad because of the dust bowl and the price of everything was low.

    Read More

  • The New Deal Dbq Essay

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression, beginning in the last few months of 1929, impacted the vast majority of people nationwide and worldwide. With millions of Americans unemployed and many in danger of losing their homes, they could no longer support their families. Children, if they were lucky, wore torn up ragged clothing to school and those who were not lucky remained without clothes. The food supply was scarce, and bread was the most that families could afford. Households would receive very limited rations of food, or small amounts of money to buy food.

    Read More

  • Down And Out In The Great Depression

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.

    Read More

  • Book Review - The Great Depression

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression America 1929-1941 by Robert S. McElvaine covers many topics of American history during the "Great Depression" through 1941. The topic that I have selected to compare to the text of American, Past and Present, written by Robert A. Divine, T.H. Breen, George M. Frederickson and R. Hal Williams, is Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first president of the United States and America's president during the horrible "Great Depression".

    Read More

  • Prejudice and Discrimination During the Depression Era and the Dust Bowl

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Unit 11 The 1930s: The Great Depression." Welcome. New Jersey State Library, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • The Origin of Migrant Farmworkers

    2448 Words  | 5 Pages

    Watkins, T.H.. The Great Depression: America in the 1930s. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1993.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath

    1699 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929, which may well be "the most serious problem facing our free enterprise economic system", few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life savings and jobs. This paper briefly states the causes of the depression and summarizes the vast problems Americans faced during the eleven years of its span. This paper primarily focuses on what life was like for farmers during the time of the Depression, as portrayed in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and tells what the government did to end the Depression. In the 1920's, after World War 1, danger signals were apparent that a great Depression was coming.

    Read More

  • Great Depression

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    Great Depression “No one can possibly have lived through the Great Depression without being scarred by it. No amount of experience since the depression can convince someone who has lived through it that the world is safe economically.” was once stated by Isaac Asimov. The Great Depression was one of the most horrific and troubling times in American history. Many homes were affected by this tragedy and many families were injured as a result of it. Man had the opportunity to prove himself by both continuing and struggling with his family leaving them.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Great Depression was one of the most severe economic situation the world had ever seen. It all started during late 1929 and lasted till 1939. Although, the origin of depression was United Sattes but with US Economy being highly correlated with global economy, the ill efffects were seen in the whole world with high unemployment, low production and deflation. Overall it was the most severe depression ever faced by western industrialized world. Stock Market Crashes, Bank Failures and a lot more, left the governments ineffective and this lead the global economy to what we call today- ‘’Great Depression’’.(Rockoff). As for the cause and what lead to Great Depression, the issue is still in debate among eminent economists, but the crux provides evidence that the worst ever depression ever expereinced by Global Economy stemed from multiple causes which are as follows:

    Read More

  • The Great Depression

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    October 29th, 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression, a depression that forever changed the United States of America. The Stock Market collapse was unavoidable considering the lavish life style of the 1920’s. Some of the ominous signs leading up to the crash was that there was a high unemployment rate, automobile sales were down, and many farms were failing. Consumerism played a key role in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 because Americans speculated on the stocks hoping they would grow in their favor. They would invest in these stocks at a low rate which gave them a false sense of wealth causing them to invest in even more stocks at the same low rate. When they purchased these stocks at this low rate they never made enough money to pay it all back, therefore contributing to the crash of 1929. Also contributing to the crash was the over production of consumer goods. When companies began to mass produce goods they did not not need as many workers so they fired them. Even though there was an abundance of goods mass produced and at a cheap price because of that, so many people now had no jobs so the goods were not being purchased. Even though, from 1920 to 1929, consumerism and overproduction partially caused the Great Depression, the unequal distribution of wealth and income was the most significant catalyst.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression was a period, which seemed to go out of control. The crashing of the stock markets left most Canadians unemployed and in debt, prairie farmers suffered immensely with the inability to produce valuable crops, and the Canadian Government and World War II became influential factors in the ending of the Great Depression.

    Read More

  • Contrast Between The 1920's And The 1930's

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    The 1920s were known as carefree and relaxed. The decade after the war was one of improvement for many Americans. Industries were still standing in America; they were actually richer and more powerful than before World War I. So what was so different in the 1930’s? The Great Depression replaced those carefree years into ones of turmoil and despair.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby and the Great Depression

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Great Depression in the United States."  Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001.  CD-ROM.    2001 ed. Microsoft Corporation. 2001

    Read More

More about The Great Depression

Open Document