Chapter 3 -The Great Depression in the Americas, 1920s to 1940s
==What was the Great Depression?==
The Great Depression was the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the US and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s.
==Key People:==
- Warren G. Harding: 29th President
- Calvin Coolidge: 30th President
- Herbert Hoover: 31st President (Present During Stock Market Crash)
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 32nd President
==Key Terms:==
- Agricultural Adjustment Administration: administration created in 1933 to help destitute farmers
- Civilian Conservation Corps: group set up in 1933 to work on conservation projects and provide jobs
- New Deal: Act set in place by FDR to help the US out of the Depression
- Social Security Act: Act set in 1935 that created pensions for elderly and handicapped people
==Key Events:==
| Event: | Description: |
|---|---|
| Crash of 1929 | The stock market crash of 1929 was largely caused by bad stock market investments, low wages, a crumbling agricultural sector and high amounts of debt that could not be liquidated. |
| Ratification of the 18th Amendment | The Eighteenth Amendment (Amendment XVIII) of the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was proposed by Congress on December 18, 1917, and was ratified by the requisite number of states on January 16, 1919. |
| Ratification of the 19th Amendment | The 19th amendment guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. |
| Teapot Dome Scandal | The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. |
| Ratification of the 21st Amendment | The ratification of the 21st Amendment marked the end of federal laws to bar the manufacture, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors. |
==How great was the impact of the Great Crash and the Great Depression on the USA?==
• Economic developments in the 1930s
Three R’s, (Recovery, Relief and Reform) ensured economic stability, Emergency Banking Act(allowed federal government to close banks), the closing of banks through Banking Holidays allowed people to rebuild trust in the banking system, so people would put their money back into them, stagflation where the dollar stayed the same, but inflation rose and unemployment being high(20+%). The CCC and CWA gave people jobs,
• Developments in US society
NAACP - helped colored people, HBCUs helped give African-Americans the education that they needed to get higher education, Eleanor Roosevelt pushed for social justice and women began to revert back to social norms until WWII
• Political change in the 1930s
The Emergency Banking Act
• The USA in the 1920s
Post-boom in economy after WWI, establishment of credit
==How effective were the strategies used by Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt to deal with the domestic problems facing the USA in the 1930s?==
Not very effective, Hoover was very pro- Laissez Faire of leaving the economy the ‘fix itself’ and Economic Darwinism, and too little too late.
Passing of Smoot-Hawley Tariff and Taxes on incomes further decreased the buying power of the poor, decreased US exports,
• The economic and social policies of Herbert Hoover
• The 100 Days and the First New Deal
Expansion of federal power and support for unions, gave trust back into the government and
• The Second New Deal
Gave people economic safety(Social Security Act)
==Second New Deal - In detail==
- Wealth distributed toward the poor, farmers, and those shunned by society (aka people of color).
- The Social Security act established social security which would pay those who retired over 65 a fixed income.
- Labor Acts established to protect the jobs of newly working citizens after the depression began. (National Labor Relation Acts), (Works Progression Acts) Included right
==Second New Deal== - Tried to improve the lives of the people and attempted to establish a new equilibrium for the country.
\n
\n
\n