Great Depression 8th grade

The Great Depression Review Sheet


1. Define the following Political Philosophies.  Be prepared to know which group a speaker might belong to based upon their words.

a.  Radical

Radicals want big and fast changes in society to fix unfairness.


b.  Conservative

Conservatives like to keep traditions and make slow changes to avoid problems.


c.  Liberal

Liberals believe in using government to help create fairness and support people's rights.



2. Key causes of the Great Depression:


a.  Stock speculation and margin buying.

margin- you only pay 10% of the stock in hopes to get money and pay it back later 

speculation- risky investments



b.  banking collapses.

ran out of money so people could not get money out of banks and everyone went broke. People stashed money in houses 




c.  High tariffs, such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff

made everyone mad and lowered imports and exports for the US. super bad for the economy and really lowered economic growth and trades which made everyone mad. 




d.  Unemployment

everyone lost jobs so no one buys anything which equals to the economy going down which means more unemployment




e.  Outflow of gold

money equals gold no more money unless there is gold 




3.  What were some of the national characteristics/experiences of the Great Depression 

The Great Depression, starting with the 1929 stock market crash, led to widespread unemployment, bank failures, and agricultural devastation, particularly during the Dust Bowl. In response, governments implemented recovery programs, like the New Deal in the U.S., to provide relief and reform the economy, profoundly impacting societies worldwide.



4.  Define protectionist philosophy

aims to protect industrys, put the tarriff on imports and exports to help US economy 




5.  Define tariff

a tax on imported and exported goods or services 



6. Explain Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act of 1930

raised Tarriff so people would but US products to help US economy, but other countries got mad and did not like this at all it had a negative impact. 




  1. What was the purpose of the tariff act?

so people would but US products to help US economy



  1. What were the effects of the tariff act?

lowered trade and made people mad




7. Stock Market Crash of 1929

a.  Explain the causes

  1. Define Buying on margin

you only pay 10% of the stock in hopes to get money and pay it back later 



  1. Define Speculation

risky investments



  1. Explain the consequences of the crash

people could npw not pay back the margin so banks and companies lost money




8. Why did bank failures occur?

they did not have enough money to pay back everything and everyone




9.  How did bank failures affect consumer confidence in the banks?  What impact did that have on bank savings?

people got afraid that they would not get all their money back and that the savings would be for nothing 




10.  How did bank failures contribute to decreased spending?

people wanted to save money because they could get no more from banks 




11. How did the Dust Bowl affect agriculture and rural families?

ruined lots of farms and made farmers not have job and lost lots of money




12.  How did the Dust Bowl worsen the economic hardship of the Great Depression?

less farmers were selling things so there were less people working 




13.  What effect did the Dust Bowl have on the migration of farming families?

The Dust Bowl caused many farming families to leave their homes and move to places like California in search of better jobs and living conditions.