Unit 5 L4&5 Flashcards
characterize the causes and effects of the Great Depression.
People in the 1920s started paying for things with credit and racked up huge debt. They were mostly paid off in installments with interest charges. As debt grew, spending slowed down.
INSTALLMENT PLAN
People began buying stocks to make quick profits, ignoring the risks. Many began buying on margin – only paying a down payment and borrowing the rest to pay for the stock. Stock market continued to spiral upward based on inflated stock prices rather than the companies’ actual worth – until the crash in 1929.
SPECULATION BOOM
October 29, 1929 – Day the stock market crashed. In the following weeks investors lost about $30 billion. Starts a chain reaction that leads to the Great Depression.
BLACK TUESDAY
Passed by Congress in 1930. Highest protective tariff – designed to protect American farmers and manufacturers from foreign competition, but did the opposite. Cut U.S. trade in half.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
A series of droughts in the 1930s. Droughts dried crops and turned the soil into dust – windstorms carried the dust hundreds of miles. Many farmers left their homes and headed west to California to find work.
DUST BOWL
WWI veterans and their families who arrived in D.C. to support the Pattman Bill which would allow vetarans to immediately receive their WW1 bonuses. President Hoover feared they might turn violent and had a force of 1000 soldiers disperse the veterans. His reaction shocks many and helps him lose the election to FDR.
BONUS ARMY
One of the first acts taken by Roosevelt to restore the nation’s faith in the banking system – banks could only reopen after the government inspected them and found them financially sound. Congress went further by establishing the FDIC – insuring individual bank accounts up to $5000.
BANK HOLIDAY
Achieved higher crop prices by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre unseeded. Put more money into farmers’ hands. In 1936, was ruled unconstitutional. In 1938, a new act was passed that put surplus crops in government storage until prices rose.
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Program that helped provide jobs, provide hydroelectric power, and control floods in the impoverished South. They constructed and maintained over 20 dams on the Tennessee River.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Put men (age 18-25) to work building roads, developing parks, and planting trees. Had to send home most of the money they earned – they were provided with food, lodging, and uniforms. Most of the work was done in the Great Plains.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Part of the 2nd New Deal in 1935. Increased employment by creating new public works projects. Built airports, roads, public buildings. Also sewed clothes for the needy, painted murals, and performed in theater groups.
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
One of the most important acts passed during the New Deal – still exists today. Provides Americans with a “safety net” – unemployment insurance, retirement benefits, and aid for disabled and orphaned Americans.
Social Security Act
