Unit V: The Great Depression

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Key Concepts to Master (Chapters 14 & 15 in The Americans)
  • the kinds of conditions that came to be as a result of the widespread poverty of the Depression
  • the major ways that poverty impacted public health, families, and race relations
  • the specific ways that Hoover responded to the challenges of the Depression (Hawley-Smoot Tariff, Bonus Army, etc.)
  • the chief reasons why FDR was able to come in and easily defeat Hoover in the election of 1932
  • the chief shortcomings of the New Deal and the groups that were left out of it's reforms
  • the ways in which opponents of the New Deal used it to make political gains for themselves
  • the controversy around FDR's attempts to "pack the court"
  • the ways that organized labor was able to make significant gains in the late 1930's
  • the impact that the New Deal had on life and culture in the United States

There will not be a separate unit test on the Great Depression, it will be a part of the Fall Semester Final Exam. 

General Final Exam Information:
The final will be made up of a MC type test and two essays.  The Objective Test will consist of 60 questions.  Of these questions, there will be 25-30 specifically about the 1920s and the Great Depression.  The remaining questions will be drawn from the previous units, with 5-6 questions coming from each unit.

It is definitely helpful to look at the Unit Reviews:
Unit I
Unit II
Unit III
Unit IV

Final Exam Essay Themes:
For your first final essay you need to take one of the themes and trace its importance through the first 300 years of U.S. History that we studied this semester (1600-1900).  One thing that might help you get started is to pick your theme and then start looking at the unit reviews, which will help you start listing the important topics that relate to your theme.
  • Economic Growth and Development (colonial trade, market revolution, industrialization, etc.)
  • Democracy and Civil Rights (enlightenment, revolutionary ideals, Constitution, slavery, segregation)
  • War and Human Conflict (F & I, Revolution, 1812, Mex-Am, Civil War, Indians, Span-Am)
  • American morality and ideology (Puritans, Enlightenment, Founders, Democracy, Capitalism, etc.)

For your second final essay you will discuss the following:
Describe life in America in the 1920s.  Be sure to address topics like isolationism, the pro business policies of the government, the boom in manufacturing and marketing, prohibition, and the growth of popular urban culture. Then explain how the 1920s lead in to the Great Depression.  Discuss the problems that created the Depression and the ways that Americans suffered during the first 3 years of the Depression.

Remember that you need to make outlines for both of the essays, and you will be able to use one of the outlines when you're writing your essay during the test!