Great Depression DBQ Essay

The Great Depression had a devastating impact on many groups and forced people to turn to crime. The crime rate increased to 24% with crimes such as bank robbery, auto-theft and drug trafficking all becoming common. Many workers were left unemployed and men returned to a scavenging lifestyle. Soup kitchens sprang up in effort to provide charity for unemployed people and homeless. President Hoover did little to help and did not involve the federal government in large scale spending as he believed that government’s involvement would harm the free market that brought prosperity in 1920. He stuck on the idea of rugged individualism (see if we can add a quote from Hoover) and convinced people that the depression happened because they did not work

As a result, gangs formed and employed people in order to earn money and afford living. For instance: Bonnie and Clyde was a gang that was very infamous during the 1930’s. They were both born into poverty, however as soon as depression hit, it made life harder for them. The gang contained more than 5 members and traveled from state to state robbing banks and stealing cars. This is evident in Source A. Source A is a wanted poster that is created by the FBI inorder to make the public aware of the criminals. It also states that they were wanted for the crime of auto-theft. Since it is from the perspective of the FBI, it is very reliable .This is because the criminal system has elements such as fairness, where it should be free of bias and injustices. As a result, it is a reliable source of information as it is free from bias. Therefore due to the great depression, crime became a social tension that increased during

The Volstead Act prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol.This is because many groups, such as: The Women Christian Temperance and Anti- saloon league opposed it.The main reason behind their opposition is that alcohol leads men to abuse their wives, children and destroys families. On the other hand, industrialists such as Henry Ford were concerned about the impact of alcohol on productivity. People enjoyed drinking alcohol before the prohibition was introduced. As a result, its introduction caused people to find ways to manufacture and sell alcohol illegally. The alcohol manufactured was not regulated and contained harmful substances. Ginger Walk is an example of a popular alcohol that was made by bootleggers during the 1920’s and contained Lindol. Source D highlights the negative effects of Ginger Walk. It mentions that it affects the way people walk, talk and causes blindness.The Source is very reliable as it was written by people that witnessed the side effects and studies proved these side effects on people that drank the alcohol. It is estimated that 100,000-400,000 people had the Jake walk. Not only did hospitals have to deal with malnutrition and sickness that occured from lack of food, but they also had to deal with alcohol-caused sickness. Therefore, due to the government’s introduction of prohibition through the Volstead Act many people began drinking irregulated alcohol that