What Caused The Great Depression Dbq Analysis

Imagine it's October 28, 1929, living a lavish lifestyle, owning a mansion, sailing on a 100 foot yacht every weekend, and having what seems like unlimited money that can be spent on anything at anytime. Then, all of a sudden, October 29, 1929 comes. The stock market crashes, banks are closing everywhere, and personal possessions are being foreclosed upon. The greatest economic downfall in the history of the United States has just began. This would become known as the Great Depression, which suited the time period between 1929 and 1941 perfectly. Everybody was affected, not just city folk. Poverty ran rampant throughout the whole country. The three main causes of the Great Depression are the overuse of credit, uneven distribution of income,

The poverty line in 1929 was considered to be an annual income of at least $2000. Most people,at the beginning of 1929, were making that and living happily. But, according to Frederick Lewis Allen’s, The Big Change, the US distribution of income was so uneven that 60% of the population was living in poverty. (Doc. 9). With over half of the country living in poverty, businesses had to lower prices and that caused the businesses to lose money and lay off workers, leading to even more impoverished families. According to the same document, only 40% of Americans were making what was considered a liveable income. (Doc. 9) That 40% of people also had a majority of the money that existed in the United States, which means that less than half of the country could actually pay for the things they wanted, the other 60% could barely, if even, afford the things they needed. Also, 5% of the American populous received 33% of the national income, which means that one out of every three dollars would go to this 5% of people. (Doc. 9). With this small amount of people making this large amount of money, not everyone in the country could even have money, which lead to the massive amounts of poverty. Uneven distribution of income led to the great depression because most of the income went to less than half of the population of the entire country, and 5% of the people made 33% of the

People trusted the “Buy now, Pay later” idea, so much so that they bought so much, and didn't have enough money to pay later. The distribution in income was only favorable for 40% of the entire population, and the citizens were gambling on their stock investments and thought nothing could go wrong. Imagine it is October 28, 1929, living a lavish lifestyle in your mansion, only to have the all of the dreams that came true crushed the very next