Untitled Flashcards Set

Great Depression

A period from 1929 to 1940 marked by severe economic decline and mass unemployment in the U.S.

Speculation

Involvement in risky business transactions to make quick or large profits.

Buying on margin

The practice of purchasing stocks by paying a small percentage and borrowing the rest.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929; the day stock prices fell sharply.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act

A 1930 law that established the highest protective tariff in U.S. history, worsening the depression.

Dust Bowl

The region severely affected by drought and dust storms in the 1930s, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Breadline

A line of people waiting for free food.

Soup Kitchen

A place serving free or low-cost food to those in need.

Shantytown

A neighborhood of makeshift shacks where people live.

New Deal

President Franklin Roosevelt’s program aimed at alleviating the Great Depression through relief, recovery, and reform.

Deficit spending

A government's spending of more money than it receives in revenue.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

An agency that put young unemployed men to work on environmental projects as part of the New Deal.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

An agency providing jobs in various fields including construction and the arts, established as part of the New Deal.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

An agency created in 1933 to insure individual bank accounts against losses.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

An agency created in 1934 to monitor the stock market and enforce laws regulating stocks and bonds.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

A federal corporation established to build dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley.

National Labor Relations Board (Wagner Act)

An agency created in 1935 to prevent unfair labor practices and mediate disputes.

National Recovery Act

A law enacted in 1933 to establish fair practice codes for industries.

Social Security Act

A 1935 law providing aid to retirees, the unemployed, and disabled individuals.

Causes of the Great Depression

Factors including constricted money supply, stock market crash, consumer debt, unequal wealth distribution, and overproduction.

Effects of the Great Depression

Widespread unemployment, hunger, poverty, and the initiation of the New Deal.