Andrew Taylor World History Grosse Pointe North High School

1. Great DepressionDocument-based QuestionWorld History – Taylor

2. Introduction This question is based on the accompanying documents (1-6). Some of the documents have been edited for the purpose of the question. The question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. As you analyze the documents, take into account both the context of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document.

3. Historical Context By the late 1920s, European nations were rebuilding war-torn economies. They were aided by loans from the more prosperous United States. Only the United States and Japan came out of World War I in better financial shape than before. In the United States, Americans seems confident that the country would continue on the road to even greater economic prosperity. One sign of this was the booming stock market. Yet the American economy had serious weaknesses that were soon to bring about the most severe economic downturn the world had yet known.

4. Task Using information from the documents and your knowledge of history (Chapter 31.2, Pages 904-909), answer the questions that follow each document in your notebook. Your answers to the questions will help you write the essay in which you will be asked to: Discuss the factors leading up to the Great Depression. Discuss how the worldwide depression affective the lives of people in the United States and around the world. Describe how the United States and other nations were able to climb out of severely depressed economies.

5. DOCUMENT 1 1A – Why were bread lines like these common throughout the United States and Europe during the Great Depression? 1B – How does the clothing on these men imply that the Depression was wide reaching?

6. DOCUMENT 2 This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. … let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. —Franklin Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address 2A – What did Franklin Roosevelt mean in saying “all we have to fear is fear itself”? 2B – What did Franklin Roosevelt hope to help accomplish with speeches like this and others?

7. DOCUMENT 3:3A – What nation had the highest rate of unemployment? How high did it reach?3B – Between 1929 and 1933, how much did world exports drop? What about world imports?

8. 4A – What does this map say about the U.S. populations’ cohesiveness during the Great Depression?4B – Why was Roosevelt such a big winner in the 1932 presidential election?

9. 5A – How does this picture of German children using stacks of money for building blocks depict severe inflation? 5B – How was such inflation a major contribution to the Depression in Germany?

10. DOCUMENT 6 Dear Mrs. Roosevelt, I am no 15 years old and in the 10th grade. I have always been smart but I never as a chance as all of us is so poor. I hope to complete my education, but will have to quit school I guess if there is no clothes can be bought. (Don’t think that we are on the relief.) Mother has been a faithful servant for us to keep us together. I don’t see how she has made it. Mrs. Roosevelt, don’t think I am just begging, but that is all you can call it I guess. … Do you have any old clothes you have throwed back. You don’t realize how honored I would feel to be wearing your clothes. — M.I., Albertville, Ale. Jan. 1, 1936 6A – Why is this 15-year-old girl writing to Eleanor Roosevelt? 6B – Based on this letter, in what ways did Depression affect children?

11. ESSAY: Write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Address all aspects of the task by accurately analyzing at least fourdocuments. Support your response with relevant facts, examples and details. Include additional outside information. HISTORICAL CONTEXT: By the late 1920s, European nations were rebuilding war-torn economies. They were aided by loans from the more prosperous United States. Only the United States and Japan came out of World War I in better financial shape than before. In the United States, Americans seems confident that the country would continue on the road to even greater economic prosperity. One sign of this was the booming stock market. Yet the American economy had serious weaknesses that were soon to bring about the most severe economic downturn the world had yet known.

12. TASK: Using the information from the documents and your knowledge of history (Chapter 31.2, Pages 904-909), write an essay in which you: Discuss the factors leading up to the Great Depression. Discuss how the worldwide depression affective the lives of people in the United States and around the world. Describe how the United States and other nations were able to climb out of severely depressed economies.

14. Title (not “essay”)

15. No word art

16. Paragraphs

17. Indents

18. Double spaced

19. Textbook-style font

20. 10-12 size font

21. 1-inch margins

22. CITE DOCUMENTS(usually parenthetically) No bibliography needed on a DBQ