Today we will be doing a couple different activities to understand what actually caused the Great Depression.
Human Reactions to the Great Depression
As we found out from our budgeting activity last time, the Great Depression came as a shock to many people and caused wide-spread financial struggles. You know how you reacted to most likely trying to feed 8 kids and take care of family members that had to move in with you as their income dwindled to zero. But how did people who actually lived through it react?
Today, you will read some primary documents that show how people reacted to the Great Depression. This lesson came from: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Task: Create a hypothesis for how people reacted to the Great Depression. Then use the documents to determine if your hypothesis was correct or incorrect.
Before you read any of the documents, please write down your own hypothesis for how people reacted during the Great Depression. How would they have felt? How would they express these feelings?
After creating your hypothesis, please read the following documents. As you read, keep track of the following on paper or Google Docs: (*There are vocabulary words below the primary sources that you can use to help you decipher the sources if there are more economic terms that you are unfamiliar with.*)
What is each document?
When was each document written?
What are its main points?
Who wrote it? Why?
Who read the document, and how would it have made them feel?
What impact do you think reading the document had on the lives of the reader(s)? In the case of the newspaper articles, what impact do you think the event being described had on the people involved in the event?
Once you have read all of the documents and taken notes, please look back at your original hypothesis. Were you correct about how people would react? Were you completely wrong? Either way, please explain how close your hypothesis was to predicting how people would react and explain the evidence that you gathered from the documents that either supported or refuted (proved wrong) your hypothesis. Please write this as a reflection paragraph and include 3 specific details from the reading.
After doing your reflection paragraph, please email or pass in your work for the day.
As always, if you have questions about this assignment, please feel free to email me! :)
Bankruptcy: A case filed under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy code. The situation is caused when a person or corporation’s financial obligations exceed their ability to pay.
Deposit: A transaction involving a transfer of funds to another party for safekeeping, e.g., a customer places funds in a checking or savings account; the customer is a “depositor.” The bank uses these deposits to make loans to other people and receives interest from those taking out the loan. In this way, the bank can give back the depositors their money and make a profit on the interest.
Directors: People elected by shareholders to manage a company.
FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - Federal guarantee or insuring of bank deposits up to $2,500 in 1934 (ceiling is $250,000 per bank in 2011).
Liquidation: The selling of assets and the paying of liabilities in anticipation of going out of business.
Reorganization: Formal bankruptcy may result in reorganization and continued operation of the firm or it may require liquidation and distribution of the proceeds.
Run: A run on a bank is when many people withdraw money at one time, usually because they think the bank is not going to have enough money to repay them their deposits at a later time.
Solvency: The ability to meet all obligations and debts.
Stockholders: People who own a company by paying for a piece of the company (stock). They are able to elect the directors and they receive profits (dividends) when a company makes money.