The Great Depression                                                                                   Name ______________________________

Unit Guide

History 7

 

Overall Purposes:

Identify the main causes and effects of the Great Depression.  Evaluate the success of the New Deal in coping with the problems of the Great Depression.

 

Main Ideas:

A)       When did the Great Depression begin? 

B)       Describe the normal business cycle.  How did this change during the Depression?  In what ways did the Great Depression differ from previous economic hard times?

C)       What factors led to the crash of the stock market?  Why was this a trigger for the Depression?

 

D)       Explain the basic economic problem of the Depression.  Explain why this occurred.  Explain why the Depression got progressively more severe.

E)        Summarize the effect of the Depression on the American economy.

F)        Describe the impact of the Depression on Black Americans.

G)       What impact did the Depression have on families, beliefs, and American culture?

 

H)       Explain the factors that led to the growth of support for the American Communist Party.  What factors limited the appeal of communism and other leftist ideas to Americans?

I)          Describe President Hoover’s response to the Depression.  Why was this ineffective?

 

J)         Describe President Roosevelt’s career prior to his election to the presidency.  How did President Roosevelt’s approach to the Depression differ from President Hoover’s?

K)      Explain the three main goals of the New Deal (Relief, Recovery, and Reform).  Be able to cite several programs that focused on each goal.

L)        Explain and cite specific examples of how New Deal programs sought to increase the national income and lower the output of goods.

M)     Describe the three phases of the New Deal.  How did they differ in philosophy and programs?


1.           1933-1934


2.           1935-1936


3.           1937-1940

 


N)      Explain the purpose of the following New Deal programs:


1.           FERA

2.           CCC

3.           FHA

4.           AAA

5.           REA

6.           NRA

7.           TVA

8.           FDIC

9.           SEC

10.       Wagner Act

11.       Social Security

12.       WPA


 

O)      Explain the origins of Roosevelt’s conflict with the Supreme Court.  What was the “Court-Packing Scheme?”  How was this resolved?

P)        Explain the criticisms of the New Deal from both the political Right and Left.

Q)      Why was labor so supportive of the New Deal?

R)       What was Keynesian Economics?  What evidence was there of its effectiveness?  Why did Roosevelt hesitate to employ this concept fully?  What was the result of this?

 

S)        In what ways was racial and religious prejudice present during the 1930s?

T)        Analyze the effectiveness of the New Deal in advancing the cause of Black Americans and women.

U)       Explain the concept of the “Broker State.”  How did the New Deal change American politics?  In what ways have politics changed since the 1930s?

V)       How did the New Deal change the way that Americans viewed the purpose of their government?  In what ways are these issues still part of our political debate today?

 

W)     Analyze the positive and negative aspects of the New Deal.

 

Key Terms:

1)        Dow Jones Industrial Average

2)        Black Tuesday

3)        John Maynard Keynes

4)        GNP

5)        Dust Bowl

6)        sharecropping

7)        lynching

8)        Scottsboro Case

9)        The Grapes of Wrath

10)    Smoot-Hawley Tariff

11)    Hooverville

12)    Reconstruction Finance Corporation

13)    Bonus Army

14)    New Deal

15)    Fireside Chat

16)    Bank Holiday

17)    subsidies

18)    Charles Coughlin

19)    Huey Long

20)    Francis Perkins

21)    AFDC

22)    entitlements

23)    NLRB (Wagner Act)

24)    industrial unionism

25)    John L. Lewis

26)    sit down strikes

27)    New Deal Coalition

28)    Eleanor Roosevelt

29)    Joe Louis

30)    Jesse Owens

31)    Reagan Democrats

32)    social safety net