Dbq Great Depression

The roaring twenties, the decade that followed World War I, led into the Great Depression the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the western industrialized world. The main conflict during this Depression was the altercations with foreign countries. foreign countries would come into the United States looking to make a sale, which they would sell their goods for a slighter better price than the American. That would lead to Americans seeking for business and low on income which made the Depression already worse. This led to foreigners stealing money that was suppose to go to the United States. The compromise of this crisis was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act came into place in the 1930s. This Tariff Act of 1930 was an

The total amount of foreign trade of the United States was about $2,000,000,000 below the total in 1929. During the end of the year American exports usually demonstrated a large growing, due to the movement overseas of the excess of staple crops. Most of the imports showed a declining bend during this time, due to already reaching the goal for the year. With constant material improvement in exports, the present vision is the total foreign trade for the whole year would be approximately 25 per cent below 1929, and even perhaps 20 per cent below the average of the years through 1925 and

On Monday, May 5, 1930, In the New York Times Newspaper the front page stated “1,028 Economists Ask Hoover To Veto Pending Tariff Bill.” (See Appendix A). Economists saw flaws in this bill and wanted to put a end to it before it got worse, but that didn’t stop Hoover. Hoover called this bill “vicious, extortionate, and obnoxious” During the current period when the bill was passed, America had 4.3 million people without jobs. Two years later it skyrocketed up to 12 million. Famous economist, David Blanchflower, argued that this bill became “the most damaging piece of trade legislation in US history.” This tariff was not signed into law until June 17, 1930, with stocks being uplifted from the 1929 height, which makes it known as a backup factor. One of the reasons why 1,028 American Economics was because the tariff would raise the cost of living. With unemployment rising, less people were able to get jobs which made it harder to earn money. Second, was that farms wouldn't be helped because, “Cotton, pork, lard, and what are export crops and sold in the world market”. Third, is that our export trade would suffer, other countries couldn't buy from America unless America is allowed to sell to them. Another point was, if the Smoot-Hawley Tariff act was never implemented maybe the world would just have gone through a recession. Rather than going through the Great