The Great Depression was a body blow for American business and enterprise. There were quite a few factors that led to the Depression, and quite a few events that happened as a result of the Depression. There were four or five factors that can be labelled the chief causes for the Great Depression. Around the time of the Depression, America had incurred huge war debts, and the government, against all advice to the contrary went ahead and passed legislation that slapped a high tariff on the American businesses and public. There was also, around the same time, a great disparity in the amount of wealth Americans held. The rich grew richer during and after the War, and the poor remained at the same levels. Besides, there was also excess production in the agricultural and industrial sectors, and nowhere to ship these excess items to. Finally, the stock market came crashing down and the culmination of all of these was the Great Depression.
There were quite a few events that resulted from the Depression. On the darker side of things, there was large-scale unemployment in America, as also a an increase in poverty and hunger levels across the country. The Great Depression went into a sort of a domino effect, and soon a huge financial and economic crisis swept across the whole world. There were some positive developments as well. One of these was the election of the Democrats to power in the 1932 elections. Another was the package that F D Roosevelt put together to bring the country out of the slump. He put together a series of packages aimed at lifting the economic condition of the country and bring it back to normalcy, like in the pre-Depression days. He tried to end the runs at the banks by declaring a banking holiday. Besides, he also sanctioned a number of programs funded by the federal government directed at the sectors worst hit by the Depression – there were packages to salvage the farms; provide employment to the unemployed youth by initiating conservation programs, bringing electricity to rural areas such as the Tennessee valley, starting art as well as construction projects; and bring prices of essential consumer items to normalcy.
There were quite a few events that resulted from the Depression. On the darker side of things, there was large-scale unemployment in America, as also a an increase in poverty and hunger levels across the country. The Great Depression went into a sort of a domino effect, and soon a huge financial and economic crisis swept across the whole world. There were some positive developments as well. One of these was the election of the Democrats to power in the 1932 elections. Another was the package that F D Roosevelt put together to bring the country out of the slump. He put together a series of packages aimed at lifting the economic condition of the country and bring it back to normalcy, like in the pre-Depression days. He tried to end the runs at the banks by declaring a banking holiday. Besides, he also sanctioned a number of programs funded by the federal government directed at the sectors worst hit by the Depression – there were packages to salvage the farms; provide employment to the unemployed youth by initiating conservation programs, bringing electricity to rural areas such as the Tennessee valley, starting art as well as construction projects; and bring prices of essential consumer items to normalcy.
