Part A - Honors

Name: ______________________ Class: ________________

Document Based Questions:

Part A - Honors

Directions: Analyze the following documents. Your answers should be as detailed and insightful

as possible. You will need to utilize the documents and your answers to complete Part B.

Document 1

Quote from “The Hawk Had Come” by Gordon Parks from Brother Can You Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929

– 1933 by Milton Metzler. Copyright 1969 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

1a. Why would Parks believe that the stock market crash would have no effect on his “small world”?

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1b. Why was Parks unable to find a job in the weeks after the stock market crash?

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“MARKET CRASHES-PANIC HITS NATION” one headline blared…I couldn’t imagine such a financial disaster touching my small world; it surely concerned only the rich. But by the first week of November I too knew differently; along with millions of others across the nations, I was without a job. All that next week I searched for any kind of work that would prevent my leaving school. Again it was, “We’re firing, not hiring.”…Finally, on the seventh of November I went to school and cleaned out my locker, knowing it was impossible to stay on. A piercing chill was in the air as I walked back to the rooming house. The hawk had come. I could already feel his wings shadowing me.

- Gordon Parks

Document 2

2a. Judging by the above quotations, was Hoover realistic in his assessment of the severity of the Great Depression? How so?

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2b. What was Hoover’s attitude toward government intervention in the economy, based on the quotations above? What leads you to think that? ________________________________________________________________________________

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We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us…We shall soon…be in sight of the day when poverty will be banished from this nation. - campaign speech given by Herbert Hoover in 1928

…the fundamental business of the country…is on a sound and prosperous basis - Herbert Hoover during the first week of the stock market crash, 1929

“The spread of government destroys initiative [independent action] and thus destroys character. Character is made in the community as well as in the individual by assuming responsibilities, not by escaping them.” - Herbert Hoover in 1930

“We have passed the worst” - Herbert Hoover in March 1930

Document 3

3a. According to the cartoonists work, how concerned does Hoover seem to be with the economic problems facing America? What led you to that conclusion? ________________________________________________________________________________

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3b. According to the cartoon, what is Hoover’s answer to the problems facing America?

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Document 4

4a. Why does Roosevelt argue that “fear itself” is the greatest problem facing the country?

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4b. What is the main thing that the country has to do, according to Roosevelt? How does he propose to go about accomplishing it? ________________________________________________________________________________

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I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, 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. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days… Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources. Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provided a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. -Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933)

Document 5

From “Dust” by Avis D. Carlson, from The New Republic, A Journal of Opinion,, May 1, 1935. Copyright 1935 by The New Republic.

5a. What is Carlson describing in the above passage? What clues lead you to that conclusion? ________________________________________________________________________________

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5b. According to Carlson’s description, how does this affect the people? ________________________________________________________________________________

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The impact is like a shovelful of fine sand flung against the face. People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars come to a stand still, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling murk…The nightmare is deepest during the storms. But on the occasional bright day and the usual gray day we cannot shake from it. We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming the Real. The poetic uplift of spring fades into a phantom of the storied past. The nightmare is becoming life. - Avis D. Carlson, “Dust”

Document 6

6a. According to the cartoon, what is one of the major issues that FDR has to deal with? Why?

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6b. Why would Congress, and the relatives and jobholders shown as children, not have the heart to “put the old dog down”? ________________________________________________________________________________

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Document 7

7a. How does the cartoonist represent Congress reacting to FDR’s plans?

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7b. Who are the two gentlemen represented in the background of the cartoon? How do they seem to feel about what they see? ________________________________________________________________________________

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Document 8

8a. The man cutting wood represents the Democrat controlled Congress…who does the cartoonist portray as forcing Congress to work? What led you to that conclusion? ___________________________________

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8b. What issues are in the woodpile of Roosevelt’s Reconstruction Plan? Realistically, what was Congress supposed to deal with FDR’s plans? What was their motivation to “cut through the wood pile”?

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Document 9

9a. How many PWA projects were underway nationwide in 1938? In what states did the PWA help build schools? ________________________________________________________________________________

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9b. Which state do you feel benefited most from PWA projects in 1938? Why? Which state do you feel benefited least from PWA projects in 1938? Why? (Consider: population, types of projects, and size of state?)

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Document 10

Select New Deal Programs First New deal 1933-1934 Provisions Emergency Banking Act Gave the executive branch the right to regulate banks

Farm Credit Administration (FCA) Refinanced loans to keep farmers from losing their land

Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) Employed young men on public works projects

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

Provided relief to the needy

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933 Paid farmers to grow fewer crops; later declared unconstitutional

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Built dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley region

Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Lent money to homeowners to refinance their mortgages

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Insured deposits in individual bank accounts

National Recovery Administration (NRA) Regulated industry and raised wages and prices; later declared unconstitutional

Public Works Administration (PWA) Set up public works projects to increase employment

Civil Works Administration (CWA) Provided federal jobs to the unemployed

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Regulated the securities market

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Insured bank loans for building and repairing homes

Second New Deal 1935-1938 Provisions Works Progress Administration (WPA) Created jobs in public works, research, and the arts

Rural Electrification Administration (REA) Provided electricity to rural areas lacking public utilities

National Youth Administration (NYA) Provided job training and part time jobs to students

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) Recognized labor’s right to bargain collectively

Social Security Act (SSA) Provided unemployment benefits and retirement pensions

Farm Securities Administration (FSA) Provided loans to help tenant farmers buy land

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1938 Paid farmers to voluntarily limit crop production

Fair Labor Standards Act Established a minimum wage and a 40 hour work week

10a. How many New Deal programs were intended to provide work for the unemployed, and what types of work? ________________________________________________________________________________

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10b. Which programs attempted to reform American governmental and economic systems to help recovery and prevent future problems? How did they go about accomplishing that? ________________________________________________________________________________

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Document-Based Project Due Date: May 8th

Part B - Honors Directions: Using the information from the documents provided and your knowledge of the era, create a

short PowerPoint presentation that includes an introduction, several information slides, and a conclusion.

Historical Context

The 1920’s were a decade of economic activity and growth. Many people believed that the prosperity enjoyed

by the United States would continue indefinitely. More people than ever before invested in the stock market,

bought items on credit, and took part in the consumerism of the decade. This all came to an end in 1929.

Task

Guidelines

Minimum requirements: 10 slides in addition to a title page, introduction and conclusion, 10 pictures

integrated into the slides. (Cited within the presentation using text boxes)

Address all aspects of the Task by accurately analyzing and interpreting at least five (5) of the

documents and use the information provided in the documents in your slides.

Be sure to organize your presentation in a clear and logical way and establish a framework that goes

beyond a simple restatement of the Task or Historical and sums up your theme.

Support your argument with relevant outside facts and information that addresses the theme of your

presentation. The theme would be your general argument that addresses all points of the Task. Eg.

Hoover did nothing, while FDR offered salvation.

Handing It In

Save the documents as “your first initial, last name, dbq” for example: jsmola dbq

Email your Powerpoint and Word doc. with answers for each document to [email protected] with “DBQ

project, class period” as the subject line; for example “DBQ project 3” for anyone in 3rd

period. Or you

may use Google Docs.

Using information in the documents and your knowledge of U.S. history, create a Power

Point presentation in which you address the following questions:

Did America move closer to or further from its founding ideals during this era?

And

At least 2 other questions from our list of Essential Questions

mailto:[email protected]

Documents Advanced

4

Proficient

3

Basic

2

Below Basic

1

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Score _______________/ 40

PowerPoint Advanced

5

Proficient

4

Basic

3

Below Basic

2

Documents Uses information

from more than 5

Uses information

from at least 5

Uses information

from less than 5

Uses information

from less than 4

2 parts of

Task

Fully addresses

both

Adequately

addresses both

Fully addresses

one and attempts

the other

Addresses only

one

Content x2 In-depth analysis Adequate

explanation Some explanation

Little to no

explanation

Organization Clear and concise Understandable Understandable

with effort Confusing

Pictures 12 or more 10 Less than 10 Less than 7

Conclusion Logical and

insightful

Clear restatement

of theme Simplistic

Confusing or

missing

Score _________________/35

Total: ___________/75 = ______________%