The 1920s, Depression & New Deal — Problem set, Grade 11
5 focused units, followed by an evidence workshop, chapter review, and chapter quiz.
Review the key ideas
The 1920s: Consumption, Cultural Creation & Political Conflict
The period also included the Harlem Renaissance, immigration restrictions, Prohibition, religious and cultural disputes, and racial violence. Change and exclusion existed together. Study particular institutions and choices rather than dividing society into two uniform camps.
The 1929 Crash: Speculation, Leverage & Banking Risk
A stock-market crash is a sharp fall in asset prices; an economic depression involves sustained contraction in production, income, and employment. The downturn had begun before the most famous crash days. Later banking panics, monetary contraction, international financial problems, debt burdens, and declining spending helped deepen the Depression. Neither blaming one trading day nor treating it as irrelevant explains the linked processes.
The Great Depression: Contraction, Households & Policy Responses
Unemployment and lost savings affected housing, food, families, and migration. Experiences varied across communities and regions. Government responses developed over time; Hoover’s administration did take measures, while Roosevelt’s New Deal expanded and changed federal action after 1933.
The New Deal: Relief, Institutions & Constitutional Debate
Supporters and critics disagreed about constitutional authority, cost, dependency, business conditions, and the scale of relief. Some wanted less intervention; others demanded more or broader inclusion. Evaluate programs individually, using their goals, implementation, and effects.
American Society in the 1930s: Culture, Migration & Documentary Evidence
Federal documentary projects recorded work and living conditions, but their photographs and interviews were produced for particular purposes. Dorothea Lange’s 1936 photographs of Florence Owens Thompson and her children at Nipomo, California, became associated with the image called Migrant Mother. A photograph records a framed moment; captions, selection, publication, and later memories provide additional, sometimes differing, evidence.
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
The payment initially fits the stated budget but leaves little reserve. The later income fall creates a shortfall. This illustrates a credit mechanism, not a claim that all 1920s households had this budget or that this alone caused the Depression.
Initially $100−$85−$10 leaves $5.
Afterward $90−$85−$10 leaves a $5 shortfall.
Explain that fixed obligations can become difficult after an income change.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 2
Answer and explanation
Installment credit can bring a purchase forward in time while adding obligations to future income. Sales totals and household debt therefore need to be read together. Advertising shows an appeal and intended audience; it does not show that everyone could afford the advertised life.
Problem 3
Answer and explanation
A 10 percent asset decline produces a 50 percent equity decline because debt remains fixed in this simplified example. The mechanism explains leverage, but the invented figures do not describe every 1929 investor. Interest, collateral terms, timing, and other assets would affect a fuller account.
Assets decline by 10/100 = 10 percent.
Equity falls from 20 to 10, a 50 percent decline.
Keep the unchanged debt and initial equity denominator explicit.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 4
Answer and explanation
Equity is the remaining asset value after debt. With $100 in assets and $80 owed, equity is $20; a fall to $90 in assets leaves $10 in equity if debt stays $80. The asset decline is 10 percent, while equity falls 50 percent. Borrowing magnifies the effect on the smaller equity base.
Problem 5
Answer and explanation
The sequence supplies a plausible reinforcing contraction. It does not establish that every closure produced the same outcome or that one bank caused a national depression. Local sales and employment records could test the proposed chain.
Lost access to funds can reduce household spending.
Lower sales can lead shops to reduce work and wages.
Compare timing, alternative credit, relief, and records from other places.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 6
Answer and explanation
A depositor losing access to savings, an employer losing credit, and a farmer facing falling prices experience different mechanisms. Explain their connections rather than using one stock-market event as the whole causal account. International trade and monetary constraints extended the contraction beyond domestic financial markets.
Problem 7
Answer and explanation
Neither label establishes universal superiority. The designs address different needs and constraints. A justified comparison needs access rules, costs, timing, and evidence of household outcomes; accept different priorities when the reasoning is explicit.
Cash can meet varied immediate needs but depends on eligibility and benefit size.
Jobs provide earnings and infrastructure but may exclude people unable to take the work.
Compare budgets, coverage, administration, and local need.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 8
Answer and explanation
The same project can supply short-term employment, increase spending, and build durable infrastructure. Classifying a project as relief or recovery is a way to identify a mechanism rather than a rule that each measure fits only one box. Explain which evidence would assess each function separately.
Problem 9
Answer and explanation
The description supports the presence of three people and packed belongings. It does not independently establish employment status or why they moved. A dated interview, work record, or documented caption source could test those claims. This method respects people’s experiences without inventing private thoughts or treating an image as a complete biography.
Observe people and belongings as described.
Treat employment and reasons for travel as caption claims.
Request dated records or testimony to test the claims.
Response criteria
- Describe the historical context and institutions accurately.
- Connect relevant evidence to an explained conclusion.
- Represent particular perspectives without stereotypes or invented testimony.
- Identify an evidentiary limitation or a distinction that qualifies the claim.
Problem 10
Answer and explanation
Employment loss, debt, available relief, family responsibilities, and opportunities elsewhere affected the choices households could make. A decision to move or share housing was not necessarily unconstrained preference. Explain the available alternatives and limits without assuming all families responded alike.