Great Depression Dbq

The Great Depression is one of the most well known phenomenons to happen in the U.S. The Great Depression was an economic downfall that lasted 10 years. Leading to more than half the banks in the U.S. to fail. The unemployment rate began to raise dangerously high along with the rate of people becoming homeless. People were frantick but the crash was so large that there was no coming up from it anytime soon.

On march 4th 1929 Herbert Hoover became president. Once in his presidency he expanded protection over government agencies along with the cancellation of private oil leases on federal property. The FBI was directed to arrest Al Capone on Hoovers orders, after Al Capone was arrested Hoover added 5.3 million acres to federal parks and forests.

He had a plan to build dams in the Tennessee valley. Under Hoovers command the federal farm board was established to try and evoke farmers to raise prices. The income tax was lowered from 25% to 24%. The economic activity from the ordeal of Herbert Hoover and the early twenties reached its peak. On September 3rd The Dow Jones Industrial average reached a record of 381.7, soon after on October 24th which was black thursday started the beginning of the great depression. October 24th 1929 the day the stock market crashed. (Meltzer 5)
Within the next two days stocks will gain 1% of stock prices than lose that 1% by the end of the weekend. Leading up to October 28th when the stock prices fell 13%, following up to black tuesday when 16% of stock prices fell. As a record of 16 million shares were traded. When banks took an overview on what was happening they realized the stock market wouldn’t come back to its pre-crash high for the next 25 years. Within the next month the stock market hit its rock bottom and started trading sideways. Into December the unemployment rate stayed at 3.2% which was good to hear after the stock market crashed but the unemployment rate will soon worsen. Concluding the year of 1929 650 banks failed, as the banks were failing there was less money supply. Since there was less money supply that meant less credit which caused each dollar that was made worth more. The value of the dollar rising caused prices to lower which reduced revenue for businesses, leaving hundreds of thousand of people with debt to pay a much larger debt than before. (TheBalance.com)
On June 17th 1930, President Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Act. The Smoot-Hawley Act is the act that raised import duties to protect american businesses and farmers. The act imposed tariffs on hundreds of other products. Which caused other countries to retaliate affecting the global trade causing it to shrink. Twenty three states were hit with one of the biggest droughts recorded that stretched from the Mid-Atlantic Region to the Mississippi River. This drought was well known has The Dust Bowl drought, crops started to die and farmers could not produce enough food to eat. President Hoover asked the red cross to assist in the epidemic along with congress giving $65 million of seed, feed, and food boxes to farmers. (TheBalance.com)
Turning into November of that year more banks started to fail. On the 7th of November, the Tennessee bank failed. Throughout the next two days affiliate banks failed. Even though the economy was slowly improving the bank failures were dragging the economy down. A third of the nations 24,000 banks belonged to the Federal Reserve Banking system, as more and more banks were failing people were rushing to there banks to withdraw their savings. Banks at the time could only hold 10% of deposits so the rest they could lend out. That fall banks runs swept the southeastern united states ending the year with 1,300 bank failures. One of the largest bank failures in the nation was the fail of the bank of the United States. President Hoover raised the income tax rate back to 25%, the economy dropped another 8.5%, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.7%. Deflation prices ended up falling 6.4%. (Klingaman 38)
In the year of 1931 food riots began to take place starting in minneapolis along with the drought hitting eight southern states in the U.S. the worst. The unemployment rate rose to 15.9%, the economy fell 6.4%. The stock prices fell another 9.3%. In January 1932 The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was created by congress which than they could lend $2 Billion to financial institutions to prevent further failures. Into February the fed purchased $1 billion in securities from banks for its open market operations. On June 6th President Hoover signed the Revenue Act of 1932 which increased the top income tax rate to 63%, Hoover thought that raising the income taxes would reduce the federal deficits but highering the taxes lead to a worse depression. By the end of the year 1932 fourteen dust storms hit the midwest leaving the economy to shrink to 12.9%, unemployment rose to 23.6% and stock prices fell 10.3%. (TheBalance.com)
In 1933 Franklin D, Roosevelt took office, on march 9th he launched the Emergency Banking Act the act closed all the U.S. banks to prevent further failures. On March 20th the Government Economy Act cut government spending to finance the new deal. A couple days later the Beer-Wine Revenue ended prohibition and ended up taxing alcohol sales so the revenue could raise. The Civilian Conservation Corps was enforced so the U.S. was able to hire $3 million workers that maintained public land. FDR abandoned the gold standard the order was to exchange private gold for dollars. More federal jobs were becoming available by passing the Federal Emergency Act. The Agricultural Adjustment Act paid the farmers to raise prices and limit crops, After that act the The Emergency Farm Mortgage Act provided loans to farmers could prevent foreclosure. (TheBalance.com)
In June the government didn’t continue replacing dollars with gold, the home owners loan corporation it refinanced mortgages to prevent foreclosures. The Glass-Steagall Act was passed which separated investment banking from retail banking, and the FDIC was created. The national industrial recovery act created the Public work Administration which added more jobs. Child labor was than outlawed by the National Recovery Administration along with the establishment of a minimum wage and the work day was limited to 8 hours. On november 8th the Civil Works Administration was created that caused many more construction jobs. By the end on 1933 the unemployment rate raised to a record of 24.9%, the national debt was $23 billion at the time. (TheBalance.com)
Entering the year 1934 on January 30th The gold reserve act prohibited private ownership of gold and doubled its price. On April 15th which was black sunday was the day of the worst dust storm ever. 1924 known as being the hottest year ever for 29 consecutive days the temperature was either 100 degrees F or over. By the end of that year the drought covered 75% of the country and 27%. The economy grew 10.8% after the New Deal Programs were presented, unemployment fell to 21.7%, the stock prices rose 1.5%. The U.S. debt rose to $27 billion. (Kahnacademy.com)
The year of 1935 The Supreme Court declared The National Industrial Recovery Act as not in accordance with the political constitution. FDR was launching more programs to benefit the poor, unemployed, and farmers. Through that year Franklin D Roosevelt passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, The Emergency Relief Appropriation, the Works Progress Administration, and the Rural Electrification Act. By the end of the year the economy grew 8.9%, unemployment fell to 20.1%, stock prices rose 3.0%, and the debt rose to $29 billion. (KhanAcademy.com)
Franklin D Roosevelt became president on mArch 4th 1933. As soon has Franklin D, Roosevelt became president he immediately began passing acts to help dig a people out of the never ending hole which was the great depression. Right before Franklin's presidency giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate the soon to come president but failed and killed the mayor. Roosevelt came out of the situation without injury. Roosevelt was confident that he could get the U.S. out of this depression. He stated “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Within the first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency he passed over 15 major bills through congress. Each bill was a reshape of the economy to improve it. These bills would turn the aspect of the economy. (TheBalance.com)
As soon as FDR had been inaugurated as President of the United States, these multiple acts he had passed within his first two terms of presidency were known as the New Deal. The New Deal had consisted of different acts ranging from social, financial, to economic ways to deal with the Great Depression. FDR first dealt with the banks. First, he declared a national bank holiday where all the banks would close till further notice. Four days later, the Emergency Banking Relief Act was drafted, which only allowed banks to reopen under government supervision. The FRC ended up buying the banks that couldn’t be reopened and held them aside till they could be reorganized and opened again. This law gave the president power over the Federal Reserve System. The law did end up reshaping the nation’s banking system. (Shannon 23)
After he had passed this act, FDR had asked Congress to pass the Emergency Banking Act on March 15th, 1933.

. By doing so, this cut payment by 15 percent for all who worked for the government and the armed forces. Government departial spending had also been cut by 25 percent, which, in the long run, had saved the US around $1 billion dollars. This saved money financed his New Deal. Only 5 days later, President FDR had asked Congress to pass the Beer Act which had finally brought and end to prohibition. Sold beer would raise revenue for the government by tax, and this would also introduce a fee-good factor, in which people who simply wanted a drink would no longer be incarcerated for it.

(TheBalance.com)
One of FDR’s most significant Administrations he had promoted within his first 100 days was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) which was later on dominated by the Works Progress Administration and the Social Security Administration.

FERA allowed FDR and the government be able to raise employment throughout the country. They had spent a total of $500 million on soup kitchens, blankets and nursery schools. It had three primary objectives- adequate relief measures, providing work for employable people who were on relief rolls, and creating diverse relief programs. This allowed people to maintain a minimum standard of living during the Great Depression. By 1935, FERA had distributed over $3.1 billion dollars and designated jobs to more than 20 million people. (Washington.edu)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was similar to FERA. FDR was able to put senior staff to work by the summer of 1933. He submitted his proposal to congress on March 21st, calling for employment of 250,000 men by June. This was passed March 31st, which also gave him the authority to establish the Emergency Conservation Work Program (ECW).

(Washington.edu)
Roosevelt’s New Deal Act has surpassed any act that any other President had inaugurated in the history of all previous presidencies. Some people had disagreed with FDR’s ways, which most likely had to do with some people not being able to get relief during the Depression, where other people were receiving relief and employment. Overall, FDR was competent to counter the effects of the Great Depression by mandating certain specific acts throughout his three terms of presidency for the United States. (Historylearningsite.co)