Name: ______________________
Class: ________________
Document Based Questions:
Part A
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
“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
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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Document 2
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
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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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. What does “The New Deal Pump” represent? How effective do FDR’s efforts seem to be? Why?
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4b. How do FDR’s efforts seem to be affecting the taxpayers of America?
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Document 5
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)
5a. Why does Roosevelt argue that “fear itself” is the greatest problem facing the country?
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5b. 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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Document 6
It IS a New Deal, 3/11/33 By Talburt in the Pittsburgh Press
6a. In the cartoon above, what do the cards represent?
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6b. Based on his portrayal of the New Deal, how does the cartoonist feel about the New Deal?
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Document 7
7a. 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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7b. What issues are in the woodpile of Roosevelt’s Reconstruction Plan? Realistically, how is
Congress supposed to deal with FDR’s plans?
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Document 8
Select New Deal Programs
First New deal 1933-1934
Provisions
Emergency Banking Act
Farm Credit Administration (FCA)
Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
(FERA)
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC)
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC)
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
Gave the executive branch the right to regulate banks
Refinanced loans to keep farmers from losing their land
Employed young men on public works projects
Provided relief to the needy
Second New Deal 1935-1938
Provisions
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
National Youth Administration (NYA)
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
Social Security Act (SSA)
Farm Securities Administration (FSA)
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1938
Fair Labor Standards Act
Created jobs in public works, research, and the arts
Provided electricity to rural areas lacking public utilities
Provided job training and part time jobs to students
Recognized labor’s right to bargain collectively
Provided unemployment benefits and retirement pensions
Provided loans to help tenant farmers buy land
Paid farmers to voluntarily limit crop production
Established a minimum wage and a 40 hour work week
Paid farmers to grow fewer crops; later declared unconstitutional
Built dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley region
Lent money to homeowners to refinance their mortgages
Insured deposits in individual bank accounts
Regulated industry and raised wages and prices
Set up public works projects to increase employment
Provided federal jobs to the unemployed
Regulated the securities market
Insured bank loans for building and repairing homes
8a. How many New Deal programs were intended to provide work for the unemployed, and what
types of work?
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8b. 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
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
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
Guidelines
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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 four (4) 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
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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.
Documents
Document 1
Document 2
Document 3
Document 4
Document 5
Document 6
Document 7
Document 8
Advanced
4
Proficient
3
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Both ?’s, 1 with
insight
Basic
2
Below Basic
1
Both ?’s
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
1 ? or 1 with
insight
Both ?’s
Both ?’s
Both ?’s
Both ?’s
Both ?’s
Both ?’s
Both ?’s
Score _______________/ 32
Advanced
5
Proficient
4
Basic
3
Below Basic
2
Uses information
from more than 4
Uses information
from at least 4
Uses information
from less than 3
2 parts of
Task
Fully addresses
both
Adequately
addresses both
Uses information
from less than 4
Fully addresses
one and attempts
the other
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
PowerPoint
Documents
Addresses only
one
Score _________________/35
Total: ___________/67 = ______________%