Preview

How Far Do You Agree with the View That the Wall Street Crash Was Responsible for the Great Depression of the Early 1930s in America?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
936 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Far Do You Agree with the View That the Wall Street Crash Was Responsible for the Great Depression of the Early 1930s in America?
How far do you agree with the view that the Wall Street crash was responsible for the Great Depression of the early 1930s in America?

The Wall Street crash occurred in 1929 and is regarded as being the most devastating stock market crash to have ever occurred in the history of the United States. The crash was cause due to a wide range of factors, which became uncontrollable during the 1920s when America was experiencing a period of ‘boom’ and many were benefiting from the prosperity. The events of the Wall Street crash signaled the start of the great depression, which had a massive effect on the rapidly growing economy of the United States. The wall street crash triggered the beginning of years of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation and decreasing farm incomes. There were other factors that can be accounted as responsible for the Great depression such as President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the aftermath of the First World War. These other factors also contributed to the Great Depression of the early 1930s.

From 1921 and 1929, America experienced a boom in their economy. Business was doing great, sales and profits increased and share prices rose. Middle class and working class American were investing money in the stock market; buying shares in companies hoping would make large profit in the future. However, all of this came to an abrupt end in October 1929 in the Wall Street crash. This caused the Great Depression in America in the early 1930s because companies saw a huge decrease in profit. The Wall Street crash happened because companies produced too many goods and they were not able to export most of it due to high tariffs placed by other countries which made them extremely expensive. When the demand for goods declined workers’ wages decreased and a lot of workers became unemployed. Twelve thousand people were becoming unemployed every day and by the end of 1930, twelve million people were out of job. Conditions in the countryside

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Stock Market Dbq

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages

    After World War I, the United States attempted to rebuild itself both politically and economically. Unfortunately, the United States economy was very unstable; therefore, the stock market crashed in October of 1929. Many people were investing their income and savings into speculative ventures and even borrowing money from brokers and banks in order to pay for the stock in cash. The stock market crash caused financial turmoil which resulted in many businesses closing and countless layoffs. With so many people unemployed or underemployed, businesses continued to fail and unemployment was at an all-time high. Also, the dust bowl was going on at about the same time, therefore farmers were hurting as well and crops were not flourishing. By 1932,…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Great Depression Dbq

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The stock market crash was the beginning of the Great Depression but it was not solely the main cause of it. There was many different causes of the Great Depression like diversification and how the there was too few industries that could not handle the demands of the economy. Another big part of the Depression was the weaker consumer and how the businesses seemed to be taking more of the profits and giving the employees less to live on. The last cause is the increase in debt, people could not…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Great Depression Dbq

    • 1939 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Great Depression in the United States brought an end to a long era of economic expansion and social progress which had been in full bloom since the 1890s (Mitchell 1947). There had been monetary recessions in 1907, 1913 and 1921, but these reversals were never severe enough or long enough to shake the deeply rooted confidence in the American economic system or to generate any widespread national discontent. Many history books tell of the depression of the '30s; they often begin with the stock market crash of October 1929 (Estey 1950). Among economists, a tendency to decry the importance of the crash as a cause of the depression: "The crash was part of the froth, rather than the substance of the situation" (Shannon 1960). The fundamental…

    • 1939 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The stock market crash of 1929 negatively affected millions of Americans by decreasing the economy, turning millions of money into nothing, hurting our agriculture, and doubling the unemployment rate. It was an austere time for Americans as they tried to find jobs to sustain their families, and it lasted for about a decade. The stock market crash became known to everyone as the Great Depression, which started in October of 1929. The stock market prices were gradually dropping, and economic uncertainty finally won over Americans.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Depression majorly hurt the American economy. In October of 1929, when the stock market crashed, a total 12.9 million shares were traded (History.com Staff “The Great Depression”). The stock market crash triggered the Great Depression in America. Any American that had invested in the stock market lost all their money and quickly became desperate for work. Businesses were forced to lower production due to low consumer spending, and by 1931 more than six million Americans were left jobless (History.com Staff “The Great Depression”). As less people managed to keep their jobs, times became harder. Farmers were forced off their lands as there was no need…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before 1929 the stock market had been vital in that it funded the U.S industry. The stock market crash contributed to the recession and signaled the unfortunate future that was yet to come but by no means did the crash caused the Depression. One of the main reasons for the sinking of the U.S economy was the U.S weak banking system. Although the U.S Federal Reserve system was created in 1913, the reality back then was that most of the American Banks were small, individual institutions that deeply relied on their own resources. So when there was an economic panic, people rushed to their small banks to retrieve their money and if the bank didn’t have enough money on reserve it would have to go…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the first causes of the Great Depression was the stock market crash. It began on October 24, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday , and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States. The stock market crash lead to the deflation of the United States money and the decline in the economy. Many Americans used the stock market as a way to make easy money. Investing in companies thinking they could over turn a quick profit with little work. Little did they know what would happen of a day…

    • 420 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Black Tuesday

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Great Depression was a miserable time period in American history. Emerging victorious out of World War I, American citizens enjoyed an exciting, carefree life during the prosperous Roaring Twenties. The economy was at its all-time high. In this glorious time, the American economy was booming. Since feelings of worry and doubt had largely faded, American citizens found themselves purchasing the finest things in life. Unfortunately, this all came to end when the stock market crashed on October 29th, 1929 (also referred as Black Tuesday). The stock market was at its all-time low, costing investors millions of dollars, contributing to failing banks and industry bankruptcies. This was the beginning the worst economic crisis in United States…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Crash of 1929 brought American to the great depression that was the longest, deepest and the greatest widespread economic depression of the 20th century. Before “Black Tuesday” America’s economic and production was at an all-time high. The prices of the stock exchange continued to increase upward, which created a sense of security related to the profits. There were a few warning signs of disaster, nevertheless, it was not bold enough to overcome the “chatter of the ticker-tape machine”. On October 29, 1929 the stock market had a catastrophic crash, which sent the American economy to swirl downwards. One of the causes of the crash was triggered the British. The British raised interest rates in an effort to bring back investment that was lured away from American…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dust Blow

    • 2040 Words
    • 9 Pages

    A U.S. stock market crash in 1929 sparked the decade-long international economic downturn known as the Great Depression.…

    • 2040 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were other factors that helped cause the Wall Street Crash and these factors are all connected. There was poor distribution between rich and poor. The problem was that the rich people were making millions but the poor were making nothing. There was also mal distribution of wealth, which led to the Wall Street Crash. A major cause of the depression was the inequality of wealth in America. There were some extremely rich people, and huge numbers of extremely poor people – the top 5% owned a third of the wealth, while 40 per cent of the population were living in poverty. There was barely any middle class and that was a problem in America because it was not fair that some people were…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The 1920’s was a prosperous time for lots of Americans which ended with The Great Depression. The Stock Market Crash and Bank Failures led to the Great Depression. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 caused banks to fail and was a crucial part of leading to the economic depression. The stock market started to decline as companies told the public inaccurate information about the growth of companies leading for more people to invest in companies leading the companies to believe they were growing even more.…

    • 210 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    great depression

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages

    It is far too simplistic to view the stock market crash as the single cause of the Great Depression. A healthy economy can recover from such a contraction. Long-term underlying causes sent the nation into a downward spiral of despair. First, American firms earned record profits during the 1920s and reinvested much of these funds into expansion. By 1929, companies had expanded to the bubble point. Workers could no longer continue to fuel further expansion, so a slowdown was inevitable. While corporate profits, skyrocketed, wages increased incrementally, which widened the distribution of wealth.…

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The stock market crash was the main cause of the Great Depression. Thousands of banks failed causing the economic process to slowdown. People were getting bank loans to invest in stocks known as buying on margin .The as the stock prices got higher people would buy more loans. United States had been through before they had never had a depression like this one. The stock market crashed in October 27th of 1929, Herbert Hoover was only in…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The stock market crash in America in 1929 leading to the Great Depression…

    • 1999 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays