1930s: Great Depression Notes
What was the Great Depression?

The Great Depression was the time period from 1929 to 1941 in which the U.S.
economy was in severe decline and millions of Americans were unemployed.

There were signs leading to the depression. In the 1920s, some industries struggled
including agriculture, railroads, textile mills, and mines.

On October 23rd, 1929, prices in the stock market dropped sharply. The next day,
people tried to sell thousands of stocks before the values dropped even more.
Black Tuesday

On October 29th, the prices dropped even more and the plunge in prices (known as
the Crash of 1929) was the first event of the Great Depression.
But things were so great in the 1920s!

There were several causes of the Great Depression:
1) People overspeculated on stocks, using borrowed money that they could
not repay when stock prices crashed.
2) The Federal Reserve failed to prevent the collapse of the banking
industry.
3) High tariffs discouraged international trade.