Name: Gloria Santti Per: 1

The Causes and Impacts of the Great Depression (GD)

Directions: Read Ch 30 and answer the numbered items in the Causes column of the chart.
Note that some additional information is offered to you in purple. Then read Ch 32 and respond
to the numbered items in the Effects column of the chart. Please be sure your responses are in
your own words. Thank you…the management.
Continues on the next pages…

Causes: Effects:
Ch 30.1 (pgs. 336-337) Ch 32 (pgs. 351-361)

What is stock? 1.Unemployment (pg. 352):

Companies sell stock to raise Summarize the effects of the
money to invest in more GD on unemployment;
technology, buildings, land, include in your summary
workers, etc. A person who information from one graph
buys stock owns a “share” of in this section of the text.
the company and gains a part On page 352, the graph
of the company’s profit if the shows the unemployment
company’s (and therefore rates rising due to the stock
stock’s) value increases, and
loses money if the company’s
The Great crash. There were few jobs
available for the unemployed
value decreases. to get. The unemployed and
Depression their families became very
1.Name 2-3 things that poor and came across home
encouraged people to buy
stocks.
(GD) foreclosures and were faced
with difficulty when they
Growth in businesses; people tried to get food.
start to invest leading to a 2.Farm Foreclosures (pg.
bull market, and loaning 353): Summarize the effects
money became easy. of the GD on farm
foreclosures; include in your
2.What factors made stock summary information from
purchase risky? one graph in this section of
Factors that made stock the text.
purchase risky is when The graph on page 353,
people would buy and sell shows the rate of farm
stock in quick way. This foreclosures throughout the
would lead to the worth Great Depression. If farmers
meaning less and the banks
use the invested money to
invest in different companies.
3.Why did stock prices fall
dramatically?
Stock Prices fell due to
people selling their stocks
out of fear, which made
prices drop even further
down.
4.How did falling stock
prices affect individuals and
businesses?
Affected businesses by the
loss of money and many had
to close down. Owners had
lost their jobs and were
unable to pay their debt.
5. What happened to banks
and people’s life savings?
The banks had run out of
cash, so then people were
not able to take money out.
THIS HAPPENED
1929 Stock Market Crash:
 Bear Market (steadily
falling stock prices)
 Investors lose $30
billion
 3,800 banks fail in
’31-’32
 One fifth of banks
close by 1933
Ch 30.2 (338-339)
6. Explain how the following
3 things contributed to the
GD:
-Overproduction:
Too many products were
made with not enough
buyers
-Widening Wealth Gap:
were able to sell their land,
then they were not able to
make money off if it. Majority
of farmers were not even
able to sell the farm before it
was foreclosed for good.
3.Financial Stress on Families
(pg. 353): Summarize the
effects of the GD on financial
stress on families; include in
your summary information
from one graph in this
section of the text.
The people who made the
most money in their families
even lost their jobs. This had
a major impact of their
The Great family’s, they faced a great
deal of financial stress. A lot
Depression of people had no choice but
to leave their homes, when
foreclosed. The poster that
(GD) says, “The Job of Being a
Parent” stresses the
importance of what family’s
roles were to them.
4.Natural Disasters Intensify
Suffering (pgs. 356-359):
Summarize how natural
disasters added to suffering
during the GD; include in
your summary information
from one graph in this
section of the text.
The continuous droughts
brought no harvest, which
left people with no food. The
farmers would try to harvest
more wheat, but that left the
soil poor, letting the wind
easily blow it away. Some
areas, families would pack up
their belongings and leave,
People who worked at wage which lead to depopulation.
were not able to make The effect depopulation left
enough money with people was that banks and
in business. While the businesses did not have any
business people made customers and didn’t have
enough money for the price make any money because of
increase. that. On page 358, the poster
-Underconsumption: of John Steinbeck, advertises
People who can’t afford about his story. Him and his
products that family moved away from
factories/companies their farm after being
continue to make. evicted. The Great Flood of
1936 swept through the land
and killed many people, as
well as ruined a lot of
Ch 30.3(Info for you) buildings. The flood caused
President Roosevelt to sign a
Two things the government
did to make the economic
The Great legislation promoting flood
control.
situation worse
Depression 5.Coping with Hard
Times/Tools and Strategies
Federal Reserve officials (pg. 360): Summarize
raised interest rates (rate
raised after the crash-1931-
(GD) different strategies
American’s used to cope
meant the amount of money with the GD; no graph in this
in circulation decreased section but be thorough in
-higher rates made your response.
loans harder to get To summarize, teens like
-deprived business of Jerry Siegel let their
capital needed to keep imagination overpower their
operating reality, prompted fictional
-workers lost characters and stories.
jobs=couldn’t buy goods Numerous amounts of
-businesses lost capital families were innovative
and customers about the ways they found to
save some extra money. For
Congress passed the Hawley- example, some would sell
Smoot Tariff Act-raised tariffs foods from their garden, or
on imported goods not to attend college.
-hope was to keep
American made products
cheaper and boost
production
-caused European
countries to raise tariffs on
imported goods (American
included)
-American lost money
and production decreased
(opposite of intent of the
Act)