Great Depression In America

The 1920s, also known as the “Roaring Twenties”, were a time of prosperity for many Americans. Technology was on the rise, and nearly every American owned an automobile and a radio. After the Great War had ended, the United States began to change. However, on October 29, 1929, all of that prosperity came crashing down. This was the day that the stock market crashed, and it would mark the beginning of a hellish time for the United States. This time was known as the Great Depression, and it was one of the darkest times in history. Surprisingly, it was completely unnecessary and should’ve been prevented. Towards the end of the twentieth century, several factors began to come together that would change America forever. One was that the automobile …show more content…
Farmers plowed millions of acres of land during World War I to plant wheat. When the drought finally hit, the soil had no root system to cling on to. Therefore, the loose, dry topsoil went whichever direction the wind did. The dust storms killed livestock and forced 60 percent of the population to move from the area. Many lost everything they had, including their farms. It was like a whole new depression in this part of the …show more content…
However, Europe was starting to recover at the time around the crash of the stock market. This heavily hurt the American economy because a large chunk of the market was lost. Europe just wasn’t relying on the United States as much. Although there was nothing that could’ve been done about this, the government should’ve seen it coming. A major cause of the Great Depression was the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The stock market finally gave way on October 29, 1929. This was essentially the beginning of the Depression. However, the way that the American people treated the stock market crash was the largest cause of the Depression. People panicked, and they feared that they were going to lose their money after the stock market crash, so they headed to their nearest banks to take out everything they had. What they didn’t understand, however, is that their money wasn’t there. People thought that they would be able to go to the bank and take out everything that they had. The banks had loaned money out to many people, however. Nearly everyone’s money was gone because banks had no insurance on deposits. As a result of this, over 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s. If banks would’ve had more regulations, this would’ve never