Great Depression DBQ Essay

The Great Depression caused havoc all over the United States. The Great Depression was caused by multiple consequences, some being stocks, government policies, and panics from bank failures are just some examples. The economy has gone through hard circumstances. Involving people losing their jobs, the overall economy dropped and industries all suffered from the effects of the Great Depression. The president at the time, FDR, tried everything to reverse the consequences of the Great Depression through enacting programs. One of the multiple programs that Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted to cease the consequences of the Great Depression was the National Industry Recovery Act of 1933. The National Industry Recovery Act, or N.I.R.A. was enforced to

These codes legalized collective bargaining and allowed businesses to disregard antitrust laws so they could do anti-competitive practices. This is shown in Source 2 which states “Generally speaking, NIRA legalized collective bargaining and exempted businesses from antitrust laws that barred anti-competitive practices. The proposition and enforcement of Codes of Fair Competition were left to trade associations of specific industries.”(Source 2). Along with Source 3, we are shown that Title 1 promoted centralized economic planning by instituting codes of fair competition for industry. Shown in source 3 states “Title I of the act declared a “national emergency productive of widespread unemployment and disorganization of industry, which burdens interstate and foreign commerce, affects the public welfare, and undermines the standards of living of the American people.” To correct this situation, NIRA proposed to “remove obstructions to the free flow of interstate and foreign commerce. to eliminate unfair competitive practices. to increase the consumption of industrial and agricultural products by increasing purchasing power, to reduce and relieve unemployment and to improve standards of labor.”(Source 3). Both sources 2 and 3 show that the American people benefited from the codes being able to raise public welfare and by creating fair

Jobs helped raise the economy and fair wages supported it being able to circulate money back into the economy. With the antitrust laws absent because of the NIRA, it helped protect consumers and raise wages. This is shown in Source 1 which states, “labor practices, policies, wages, hours of labor, and conditions of employment in such trade or industry or subdivision thereof; and upon the basis of such investigations, and after such hearings as the President finds advisable, he is authorized to prescribe a limited code of fair competition fixing such maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and other conditions of employment in the trade or industry” (Source 3). There was a positive domino effect when the NIRA was enacted. Consumers, workers, and industry owners all benefited from the NIRA in the sense that it allowed fair wages, moving the economy forward out of the downward spiral of the Great Depression. If the NIRA was still enacted from this point on, this would give the president more power to manipulate the industry. But since the NIRA was ruled unconstitutional by Chief Justice Charles Hughes, this wouldn’t happen. Especially since the NIRA could’ve created monopolies like it currently does. Which would hurt the consumer's