Causes of Great Depression

1. Bell Ringer
What is a “Depression”?

2. Today’s Objective
We will identify the events that led to
beginning of the Great Depression.

3. Causes of
the Great
Depression
By Brad Harris, Grand Prairie HS
SE: 2B, 2D, 16A, 16B

4. The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the severe
economic depression that impacted the
United States throughout the 1930s.

5. The Depression Begins
The Great Depression started in 1929 and
lasted until the beginning of World War II.

6. The Depression Begins
Personal income, profits, prices, as well as
trade dropped dramatically and there was
massive nation-wide unemployment

7. Causes of the Great
Depression

8. 1.Overproduction of Goods
Manufacturers were producing more
goods than they could sell, leading to
layoffs in major industries

9. 1. Overproduction of Goods
Unemployment skyrocketed during the
Great Depression, reaching as high as 28

10. 2. Stock Market
Speculation
Investors in the Stock Market were buying
stocks “on margin,” speculating that the
price of the stocks would continue to go up.

11. 2. Stock Market
Speculation
When stock prices began to fall in late
October, 1929, it led to a massive sell off
and the crash of the Stock Market

12. 3. Numerous Bank
Failures
Bankers made unsound investments in the
stock market. In the months following the Stock
Market Crash, thousands of banks failed.

13. 3. Numerous Bank
Failures
Because so many people were in debt, when
they lost their jobs, they could not pay back
their loans, leading to more bank failures

14. 3. Numerous Bank
Failures
If a bank failed, people who had money in those
banks lost their savings, leading to bank runs

16. 4.Tariffs Slow World Trade
The passage of large tariffs led to a
slowdown of international trade.

17. 4.Tariffs Slow World Trade
The purpose of a tariff is to protect American
businesses from foreign competition

18. Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff was the highest tariff
in U.S. history and led to foreign countries
refusing to trade with the U.S., leading to more

19. Black Tuesday (last 2 minutes)

20. Coming Up…
Hoover Reacts

21. Today’s Objective
We will identify the events that led to
beginning of the Great Depression.

22. Today’s Product
I will create a bubble map that will
describe the key events that led to the
beginning of the Great Depression.