Great Depression Dbq

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“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt said this to the American people during the Great Depression. On October 29, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, the stock market crashed. This making the economic slump the most severe in the twentieth century. It also ruined many investors and led to the downward spiral that would make this depression so significant. Families, farmers, and even veterans starved and demanded that something should be done. This downfall in the economy lasted from 1929 to the late 1930s which made it the longest widespread depression. Citizens of the United States suffered loss of jobs, money, and hope. The Great Depression affected the lives of many Americans.

There were many factors that led up to the depression. First of all, banks were making loans that were never paid back. When the businesses that loans were made to ran short on money, similarly, the banks did too. Banks across America went bankrupt, causing them to close. Every account in the banks that closed was abandoned. Depositors lost all the money stored in that bank. Because of this, consumers spent small amounts of money, which threatened many businesses. Meanwhile, farmers and factories were responsible for the overproduction of goods. Customers’ money was lost

People can now trust banks because of the FDIC. This ensured, that even if a bank closed, their money would not be lost. Because of the wealth effect, people would have less money so then they would spend less money than before. Their incomes had fallen and in place of buying new things constantly, they learned to cope with it or fix it themselves. But, only small amounts of people stole what they needed. They thought the depression was their fault and they should have to endure the consequences(Great Depression and the New Deal Reference Library). The Great Depression helped Americans form new habits about spending