1. The Great Depression

2. Create a fold-able
Today we will take notes about the Great Depression in a foldable…
There will be two titles on your cover pages:
Causes of the Great Depression
Impact of the Great Depression

3. Contributing Factors to the Great Depression
Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act ~ tariffs are taxes placed on imported goods. Formerly passed June 17, Although it was passed after the Wall Street Crash…many believe that the political discussions of this in 1929 may have caused the crash.
The Wall Street Crash 0f 1929~
October 29, 1929 “Black Tuesday”

4. Overproduction
Factories and Farmers were producing more goods than they could sell due to the struggling economic situation. The Smoot-Hawley Tarrif Act hurt Americans ability to trade with other countries.

5. Wall Street By 1929, there were 20 million investors on Wall Street.
Viewed as a quick way to make lots of $$$
October 24, 1929 “Black Thursday”~ 13 million shares were sold.
Group of bankers tried to restore confidence in the stock market by investing $250 million. Prices stopped falling for a few days and then panic hit again on Monday.
“Black Tuesday” October 29, 1929, 16 million shares were sold and investors lost $8 billion on this day alone.
Investors were ruined and the banks that supported them were ruined.

6. Banks Nearly 700 banks shut down in 1929 alone.
People could not withdraw their savings because the banks had lent out all of their money to share holders who lost everything when the stock market crashed.
Many people were forced out onto the streets because they no longer had the money to pay for their rent or their mortgage payments.

7. Unemployment Rates 1929 ~ 3% of Americans were unemployed
1933 ~ 25% of Americans were unemployed (about 40 million people were out of work)
In some locations, like Chicago unemployment was as high as 50%!
Wages cut for those with jobs

8. Help for those in need?
There was not much help for those who were unemployed.
Bread lines and soup kitchens

9. Where did the homeless go?
Congregated at bus stations, parks, and outside of the city
Developed “Hoovervilles” or shanty-towns outside of the cities~ homes were made from scraps of metal, wood, and/or stone
Slept on the ground or whatever they could find (piano crates, boxes, etc)

10. Farms Farmers were hit particularly hard during the depression.
Fighting the challenges of the depression and weather conditions.
Dust bowl~ (1940 in some areas)
The Dust Bowl consisted of 100 million acres, centered in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
Severe drought caused dust storms

11. Presidents
Herbert Hoover, Republican ( ) 31st President; many considered him the “do nothing” president and blamed him for many aspects of the Great Depression
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat ( ) 32nd President; stepped forward and offered Americans a “New Deal”, 1st president to serve more than two terms.