Notes
The 1920s
- Pro-business Republican presidents, the assembly line, cars, radios and installment buying created a consumer boom. Farmers and many workers were left behind.
- Culture clashes: Prohibition (18th Amendment), the Scopes Trial, the Immigration Act of 1924 quotas, the revived KKK and the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
- The Jazz Age, flappers and the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Hurston, Armstrong) reshaped American culture.
The Great Depression
- Causes: the 1929 crash, buying on margin, overproduction, unequal wealth, bank failures and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
- By 1933 about 25% of workers were unemployed. Hoovervilles, breadlines and the Dust Bowl marked the era.
- Hoover relied on voluntary action and loans to business; the Bonus Army episode hurt his reputation.
The New Deal
- FDR's New Deal aimed at relief, recovery and reform: bank holiday, fireside chats, CCC, WPA, TVA, FDIC, SEC, Social Security and the Wagner Act.
- Critics said it went too far or not far enough. The court-packing plan failed.
- WWII spending ended the Depression, but the New Deal permanently expanded the federal government's role.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
The 18th banned alcohol; the 21st repealed the ban in 1933.
The speaker insists he is part of America and will one day be treated as an equal.
Margin buying inflated prices, and forced selling turned the drop into a crash.
The WPA employed millions building roads, bridges and schools.
Panic had caused bank runs; FDR wanted to calm the public.
Programs like Social Security, the FDIC and the SEC remain today.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
The Great Depression was the most severe economic crisis in American history.
(a) Describe TWO causes of the Great Depression.
Show the answer and scoring guide
Many investors bought stock on margin, so when prices fell in October 1929 they could not repay their loans and panic selling followed. Overproduction and unequal wealth meant most families could not afford to buy all the goods factories made.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Compare Hoover's and Roosevelt's approaches to the Depression.
Show the answer and scoring guide
Hoover believed in rugged individualism and limited government; he lent money to banks and businesses through the RFC but opposed direct relief to individuals. Roosevelt used the federal government directly, creating jobs programs like the WPA and CCC and new regulations like the FDIC.
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Choose ONE New Deal program and explain how it reflected relief, recovery or reform.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The FDIC was a reform. It insured bank deposits so that people would not lose their savings if a bank failed, which restored trust in banks and helped prevent future bank runs.
Check off the points you earned: