This paper will attempt to analyze the causes and effects of the Great Depression in the United States, which overtly began with the Stock Market crash of October 1929, but whose underlying causes went back to World War I.
I. Surface conditions prior to the depression were deceiving.
A. Industry appeared to be at an all-time high.
B. People were extremely optimistic; they borrowed
C. The stock market crashed and set up a chain
reaction that almost destroyed our economy.
1. The crash weakened financial institutions and slowed down industrial expansion.
2. The crash caused a sharp decline in American purchases and investments abroad.
II. Complicated forces combined to cause the depression.
B. Other forces directly from World War I.
1. Complete dislocation of the world's economy. 2. Technological changes and improvements made
necessary by increased war production.
3. A rigid and inflexible economic system was
unable to adapt to necessary changes after
4. Easy credit policies led to unrestrained
speculation from our war financing methods.
C. The persistent depression in agriculture weakened the economy of the country.
III. The depression affected all segments of the economy and had a lasting impact on the social structure of the
A. There was a slow-down in the economic machinery of the nation.
1. Banks had to close their doors because they
were unable to get back money which they had loaned at inflated values.
2. Banks closed because businesspeople failed to meet their obligations or because of
3. Manufacturers had to curtail operations or
4. The long depression in agriculture
impoverished farmers, and great numbers lost their farms.
5. Foreign trade was adversely affected when
B. The social impact of the depression was reflected in all aspects of...