How The Great Depression Has Shaped America

There are many events in American history that have shape our country, and perhaps our world. Some of these events include the American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and many more. Although, there is one event that most of us forget and most of us do not know that it shaped our world substantially. The name of this event is the Great Depression. The Great Depression changed our views on particular matters and cluttered our economy.

What most people do not know, is that there was a happier and more successful time before the Great Depression. This time was called the Roaring Twenties. Beginning in the early 1920s, the Roaring Twenties were a time of social and political change. Many Americans started migrating from rural
On October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday, share prices on the New York Stock Exchange completely collapsed. Most people think that the Great Depression began because of the stock market crash. However, this isn’t true. Some hold the government responsible for the start of the Great Depression because of three things, interest rates, money value, and money supply. To preserve the dollar’s value, the federal government raised interest rates. This further restricted the availability of money for business. As another result, more bankruptcies followed. When the stock market crashed, investors turned to the currency markets. Since gold standard supported the dollar, speculators, or desperate investors, began trading in their dollars for gold. This created a run on the dollar. One mistake investors made was withdrawing their deposits from banks. With the banks failure, it destroyed any of the consumers’ remaining confidence in financial institutions. This further decrease the money supply. Many people were suffering from these causes and the Great Depression. To help end the Great Depression and the citizens suffering, the Hoover Administration and the Roosevelt Administration offered