1. |
Focus Question: What factors "brought on" the Great
Depression and what were its effects? |
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What foreign and economic policy did the U.S. assume after WWI?
What did "normalcy" mean to Presiden Warren Harding? Which interest
group clearlly "had the ear" of the government? What was the state
of the American economy during the first seven or eight years of the 1920s?
What new products began appearing during this period? How did its
economy compare to Europe's after the war? What issues divided American
society? In what respects was the wealthy of the country divided?
What gave rise to the growth of major criminal organizations? What
factors prompted the Great Depression? What impact did the disproportioinate
amount of money in relatively few hands have on the economy?
What was the most pervasive problem of the Great Depression? Why
do you think that agricultural prices were low during this period?
How did Hoover's attitude of government differ from that of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt? |
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| 2. |
Focus Question: How did the role of government fundamentally
change as a result of the Great Depression? |
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What was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first goal? What actions
did he take during the first "100 days?" How did the American labor
unions change during the Great Depression? What was the role of the
National Recovery Administration and why (do you think) was it declared
unconstitional by the Supreme Court in 1935? In what two ways did
the role of government change during the New Deal? What was the result
of the New Deal legislation on the American economy? What event brought
the U.S. economy to a full level of employment and thus ended the Depression?
What two factors spawned world wide authoritarianism following WWI? |
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| 3. |
Focus Question: What was the relationship between the
economic and political turmoil of the inter-war period? |
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What was the fate of many liberal governments in the inter-war period?
Why were governments more willing to take a role in the economic life of
the country in ways that they had previously avoided? Beside economic
factors, what other elements contributed to the formation of authoritarian
government? What were the Soviet and American experiments of this period
alike/different? (think!) |
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New Deal |