[ 7.2 ] After the Crash

[ 7.2 ] After the Crash
• Identify the causes of the stock market crash of 1929.
• Describe the ways in which the Great Depression affected American workers.
• Analyze the social, economic, and political impact of the Great Depression in Texas.

[ 7.2 ] After the Crash
• stock
• indicate
• depression
• Great Depression
• impact
• pensions
• Centennial
• Miriam “Ma” Ferguson
• James Allred
• Wilbert Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel

During the 1920s, the average American industrial worker earned more money and could buy more products than ever before. Companies began to make more goods more cheaply, and corporate profits skyrocketed. This made the wealthy even wealthier and lured many people—even those whose incomes were relatively small—into buying stock in a companies. Stock is a share of ownership in a company. Rising stock prices seemed to indicate that the economy was doing well. As more Americans began to invest in the stock market, some even began borrowing money at high interest rates to purchase the stock.

Years of rising stock prices and high interest rates ended with a huge stock market crash in 1929.

After the crash, the economy plunged into a depression, a period of low economic activity and high unemployment. Conditions became so severe that people call it the Great
Depression. The stock market crash did not cause the Great Depression. The crash was just one sign of an unsound economy.

• Origins of the Great Depression
• Results of the Great Depression

Analyze Data What does this data suggest about a possible cause of the Great Depression?

The availability of credit in the 1920s made it easier for consumers to buy expensive goods. It also made it easier for consumers to acquire large amounts of debt. Analyze Visuals What was the purpose of this advertisement?

With the state’s strengths being oil, cattle, and land, many Texans felt the problems of the
Depression were not an immediate danger for them. A newspaper in Fort Worth declared,
“As a matter of fact, in America we don’t know what hard times are.” While many Texans were experiencing hard times, they were different from what was happening in other parts of the country.

• Severity of the Depression
• Economic Impact on Texas
• Social Impact on Texas
• Political Action in Texas
• Texas Leaders

Texans work at an oil refinery near Kilgore. An oil boom in East Texas helped the state survive the early years of the Great Depression.

Why did stock prices fall so sharply on Black Tuesday?
A. Americans did not invest enough in the stock.
B. Investors panicked, and everyone tried to sell their stocks at once.
C. The economy went into a sudden decline, and stock prices followed.
D. Companies discovered that their stock shares were actually worthless.

Which of the following helped cause the Great Depression?
A. the uneven spread of wealth in the 1920s
B. the increase in foreign trade in the late 1920s
C. Americans wanting more goods than companies could produce
D. Americans saving too much money

Which of the following statements best summarizes the impact of the Great Depression in
Texas?
A. The depression was felt strongly in Texas because many Texans lost their life savings in the stock market.
B. The depression was not as severe in Texas as in other parts of the nation.
C. The depression had almost no effect on Texas due to the state’s strengths in oil, cattle, and land.
D. The depression affected Texas primarily due to factory closings.