Friday, January 17th

[1Sam]

We continued presenting projects.

1. Great Depression
   1. Unemployment
      1.                                           i.    Cause of many hardships
      2.                                         ii.    Competition for low paying jobs
      3.                                        iii.    Discrimination
   2. Homeless
      1.                                           i.    Unemployment rose and so did homelessness
      2.                                         ii.    Many people lost thrit homes
      3.                                        iii.    Hoovervilles
         1. Shacks made of cardboard, sheet metal, and plywood
         2. Named after President Herbert Hoover
         3. Central Park
   3. Boxcar Children
      1.                                           i.    Teenagers left their homes and rode on trains for long periods of time
   4. Farmers
      1.                                           i.    Produced record numbers in WWI
      2.                                         ii.    Prices fell – more production
      3.                                        iii.    Farmers went bankrupt and many of them lost their farms
      4.                                        iv.    Weather was also terrible for crops (Dust Bowl)
   5. Starvation
      1.                                           i.    Hoover- “Nobody is actually starving, The hobos are better fed than they have ever been”
      2.                                         ii.    1931- 20 deaths in New York
      3.                                        iii.    1934- 110 deaths
   6. Breadlines
      1.                                           i.    Supported by churched missions and charities

                                                                                           

1. Great Depression
   1. Stock Market Crash
      1.                                           i.    Black Tuesday
      2.                                         ii.    Stock Market had been going up since 1922 (20% a year)
      3.                                        iii.    “Buying on margin”
   2. Bank Failures
      1.                                           i.    Banks investing money in stock market
      2.                                         ii.    Bank accounts uninsured
      3.                                        iii.    Throughout the 1930’s over 9.000 banks closed
      4.                                        iv.    Surviving banks- stopped being as willing to create loans
   3. Overproduction/Underconsumption
      1.                                           i.    Unemployment rose above 25%
      2.                                         ii.    People from all classes stopped purchasing items
      3.                                        iii.    Factories produced too many goods
      4.                                        iv.    Factories lost money because of under consumption
      5.                                          v.    Cycle continues
   4. American Economic Policy with Europe
      1.                                           i.    Government created Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930)
      2.                                         ii.    Purpose- to help protect farmers against agricultural imports
      3.                                        iii.    Massive agricultural overproduction in 1920’s- led to declining farm prices
      4.                                        iv.    Led to less trade
   5. Drought Conditions
      1.                                           i.    Not a direct cause
      2.                                         ii.    Mississippi Valley (1930’s)
      3.                                        iii.    Many could not pay taxes or other debts
      4.                                        iv.    Had to sell farms with no profit
      5.                                          v.    “Dust Bowl”

Herbert Hoover:

He thought that is should be people helping people. Government should not help people.

Laissez Fairre = no government in business

Rugged Individualism = people fend for themselves (work hard)

Trickle Down Theory = tax the rich and give jobs to the poor