What Caused The Great Depression Dbq

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The Great Depression was a major event for the United States. It lasted for about a decade, from 1929 to 1939 and affected 95% of Americans. The Great Depression was caused by installment buying, speculation in the stock market, and unemployment. Installment buying was one of the early causes of the Great Depression. Installment buying is purchasing an item over a period of time and paying it back in periodic payments. As stated in document 6, 60% of automobiles were bought on an installment plan. Installment plans allowed consumers to buy goods at a rate faster than their income was expanding, giving people a sense that they had more money than they actually had. This method is unlike the traditional principle of cutting back spending when …show more content…
Since the stock market had crashed, many people were trying to withdraw money from the banks or take out a loan. With so many people trying to get money from the bank at the same time, banks were not able to keep up with the demand and had to close down, affecting a large number of people that had put their money into the bank. But bank failures did not just affect families and individuals, it affected businesses as well. Businesses were not able to take out loans and the money invested in banks was lost, forcing the businesses to let people go. The unemployment rate was 3.2% in 1929 and quickly rose to 25.2% by 1933 (document 4). For a decade, the United States had a double digit unemployment rate. As unemployment increased, people stopped buying commodities, which hurt the economy and worsened the Great Depression. In conclusion, the Great Depression was caused by unemployment, stock market speculation, and installment buying. The Great Depression had a negative impact on Americans and the United States economy, which contrasted with the positive attitude during the Roaring 20s. The Great Depression had many long-lasting effects on the United States and it would take many years for the economy to improve back to how it used to
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