Class notes
Amh 2020 The Great Depression 1929 to 1940 Notes
- Course
- AMH 2020
- Institution
- Florida Atlantic University
This is a comprehensive and detailed note on The Great Depression 1929 to 1940 for AMH 2020. *Essential Study Material!!
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7.1 The Great Depression 1929-1940
U.S. Population in 1930
122.76 million people total (compared to 105.7 million in 1920 and 50.2 million in 1880)
o White: 110.3 million (89.8%)
o Black: 11.9 million (9.7%)
o Native American & Alaska Native: 332,000 (0.3%)
o Asian & Pacific Islander: 265,000 (0.2%)
o No data on Latinx population (1.3 million/1.2% in 1920 and 2 million/1.5% in 1940)
At start of the depression the population was young: median age was 26.5 & only 4.7% of the
population was age 65+
Life expectancy was 59.6 years.
More men than women (102.5 men for every 100 women)
Causes of the Great Depression
False sense of prosperity in the 1920s (great wealth inequality still existed, plus lots of buying on
credit)
o The wealth was built on shaky grounds.
o Big gap between rich and poor Americans
o Americans living in rural areas were very poor.
Stock Market Crash of 1929
o People were doing things they shouldn’t have been doing, there were no rules (now
there is no insider trading etc.)
o Stocks were bought with borrowed money.
Bank failures
o Banks were doing stuff they weren’t supposed to be doing and banks would run out of
money and then close their banks.
o People rushed to take the money out of the bank before the banks went down.
Deflation
o Not enough money in circulation.
, o Reduction in consumer purchasing => reduction in sales => workers laid off => reduction
in consumer purchasing (vicious cycle)
Economic instability in Europe, especially Germany, resulting from WWI
o Countries borrowed money (defaulted on loans to the U.S.)
o hyperinflation in Germany
Reduced trade with Europe (caused in part by Smoot Hawley Tariff of 1930/protectionist
economic policies)
o Puts an extra tax on foreign goods so Americans would have an incentive to by American
made goods
o Caused the Europeans to do the same making us trade reduce.
Drought in the Great Plains (“Dust Bowl”), 1930-1936
o No rain for 6 years.
o Drought on Great Plains began in 1930 Dust storms started in 1934 because there were
no grasses to anchor the soil due to farming (This was because of human activity and
farming and from planting crops which caused the grass to be removed)
o Houses would fill with piles of dust.
o 1/3 of families in the “Dust Bowl” left their farms in the 1930s (Lost everything)
o 300,000 people migrated to California (They were not welcomed in California)
The Great Depression in the U.S.
Worldwide economic crisis
o U.S. economy failing caused other countries' economies to fail
o Then other countries couldn’t buy goods from each other (Vicious Cycle)
o Then tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.
Corporate profits fell from $10 billion to $1 billion
100,000 businesses closed
25% unemployment rate
o No welfare, unemployment insurance (caused people to lose homes and everything)
No social safety net
Banks failed
Threatened capitalism & democracy
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