What Caused the Great Depression? DBQ

Class discussion: What were some possible causes of the Great Depression?

Student responses:
surplus goods
installment plans/buying on credit
low wages
stock market crash
high cost of living
decline in new housing starts
consumer spending/consumer debt
speculation
laissez-faire economics
business cycle
unequal/uneven wealth distribution
decreased agricultural production
bank closings/failures
decrease in international trade


Review the 11 documents as a class and the answers for the guiding questions.

Sort or categorize the documents into 3 groups

A) wealth distribution: Documents 7, 8, & 9

B) consumer debt Documents 3, 6, 10

C) speculation/overproduction 1, 2, 3, & 5

Thesis: The three causes of the Great Depression were unequal wealth distribution, consumer debt, and overproduction.

Claim = Thesis or mini (baby) thesis
Evidence = Documents (Doc. #)
Interpretation = Your explanation of how this connects to your thesis (how this document tells you what contributed to or caused the Great Depression)

Outline for 1st Body Paragraph

Claim: The first major cause of the Great Depression was uneven wealth distribution.

Evidence: Documents 7 & 9

Interpretation:
Document 9, shows that more then half of the United States lived below the poverty line which illustrates that wealth was unevenly distributed between the rich and poor.

Document 7 was written by a women whose family fell below the poverty line which caused them to decrease family spending in turn led to a decline in business production eventually resulting in layoffs, increased unemployment, and more poverty.

For homework complete the outline for the next two body paragraphs using the model above as your guide.

Outline for 2nd Body Paragraph

Claim:

Evidence:

Interpretation:

Outline for 3rd Body Paragraph

Claim: 

Evidence: 

Interpretation: