preview

How Did The Great Depression Affect The Economy

Decent Essays

The Great Depression was a very detrimental time in American history.The Great Depression was caused by a series of events that lead to the crash of the stock market. On October 29, 1929 over a billion dollars was lost, despite the trade of over 16 million shares. This unexpected downfall caused a collapse in the American economy.
Following the crash of the stock market, over 9000 banks failed to stay in business. This caused many fellow Americans to lose their savings they began to refuse to spend their money. In addition, due to businesses not having high value and banks shutting down, companies and industries began to fire their employees. In an attempt to fix the economy the government made the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930. The tariff increased taxes on European goods. As a form of retaliation European …show more content…

However, America was able to recover from the great depression thanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt's “New Deal”. The “New Deal” brought new jobs and also aimed to make more agricultural and industrial jobs. But even with the “New Deal” America was not fully recovered, full recovery wouldn't happen until World War II.
The Great Depression wouldn't have been as bad if the banks wouldn't have failed. Because of America’s current economic state, many Americans lacked financial stability causing them to not have the ability to spend and purchase goods and services which hurt the economy even more.

3. What were the causes of the Great Depression? How did the U.S. become involved? Could the U.S. have avoided the depression? If so, how, and if not, why? What actions helped the U.S. get out of it? Were there some actions that would have helped the U.S. more quickly than others? How? Why? Support your answer with

Get Access