The Great Depression

8G History Lesson 115 Assignment

This week’s school assignment was on the Great Depression and its effects on America.

Overview

The Great Depression was a time period from 1929 until about 1939, where countries around the world, mostly the U.S. experienced crashes in their economy. People suffered and the workforces crashed.

Causes

There were many factors that contributed to starting the Great Depression. One of them was the stock market crash. On October 24, 1929, the U.S. stock prices crashed. Investors everywhere panicked, and this led to mass selling of stocks. Another factor was the banking panics. People were beginning to lose trust in the banks, due to some of the new government policies. This led people to withdraw large sums of money from banks, and by 1933 1/5 of the banks that were there in 1930 went bankrupt.

Additionally, a number of government policies played a role in bringing the great depression. Tariffs were raised significantly by Herbert Hoover.

Culture and Society

The culture of the 1930’s was different than the so-called Roaring 20’s. Many families who were doing just fine before the depression were now struggling to get by. Families that were struggling before were now in a very bad position. Many women started working during the depression to help their families out. Children had more responsibilities and jobs than they did before, and some of them contributed in the work force.

The 1930s saw the rise of swing music, and jazz was popular too. The board game Monopoly was very popular during this time.

Conclusion

The Great Depression is remembered as one of the most difficult times in America’s history. People struggled to recover for many years after the depression was over. Hopefully we will never have such a devastating crash ever again.

Reference:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Depression

Warren Harding

8G History Lesson 110 Assignment – Part 1

This week I was to write about presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. I decided to split it into two essays, this is the first part.

Overview

Warren Harding was the 29th president. He promised to help the U.S. return to normalcy after World War 1, but he accomplished little in office. His short time as president was marked by many scandals, which upset many people. Most people consider Warren Harding’s time in office as one of the worst.

Life and Presidency of Harding

Warren G. Harding was born on November 2, 1865 in the state of Ohio. He grew up on a farm, but his father later abandoned farming and became a physician. Warren grew up the oldest of 8 children. He tried many different careers, and bought a small newspaper company in Ohio. He became interested in politics, and slowly became more well-known.

Harding served as a senator, and was a member of the Republican party. He ran for president in 1920, under the slogan “Return to Normalcy.”

Harding didn’t do much in office. His biggest acts were to increase tariffs, and lower taxes on business. But the thing he is most remembered for is the scandals that took place during his presidency. Harding wasn’t the most honest man, and he didn’t appoint very trustworthy people.

Harding died of a heart attack while returning from a vacation in 1923. This marked the end of his presidency, and Calvin Coolidge took over.

Reference:

www.britannica.com/biography/Warren-G-Harding

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Apr, 2025

Calvin Coolidge

8G History Lesson 110 Assignment – Part 2

This is part two of my assignment for this week.

Overview

Calvin Coolidge was our 30th president. He became president after Harding died in office. In my opinion, he was one of the best presidents ever, but he is often forgotten.

Life and Presidency of Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. He was an only child, and his parents raised him well. His father was a storekeeper, and taught Calvin many Puritan virtues. Coolidge loved reading and nature as a child.

Coolidge decided to pursue a career in law, starting in 1897. He married Grace Goodhue in 1905. Coolidge was chosen as mayor of Northampton in 1909, and was active in the Massachusetts government. He was a popular republican cantidate for Vice President, and made it onto the ballot with president Harding. They were easily elected into office by a 60 percent popular vote.

Coolidge was thrust into the presidency when Harding unexpectedly died. Harding had left Coolidge a seat surrounded by scandals. However, Coolidge was determined to restore the people’s trust. In 1924, he was nominated for president. He won more than half of the popular vote under the campaign “Keep Cool with Coolidge”.

Coolidge improved the U.S. economy and government in many ways. He was very supportive of business and the free market, and dramatically lowered the income and property tax rates. He also supported smaller government. His Secretary of the Treasury was Andrew Mellon. He believed that lowering taxes would help expand the economy. Coolidge vetoed the McNary Haugen bill 2 times, which Congress was trying to approve. This bill was a plan for the government to subsidize American crops. Coolidge’s move to veto it was a controversial one, and some people were not happy. He was also a supporter of racial equality, and tried to move the U.S. towards it.

Some people criticize Coolidge for his “lack of action”, and blamed the Great Depression on him. They thought that he should have taxed the rich more, and enact more laws that subsidized the economy.

Coolidge oversaw almost a decade of prosperity, and in 1928, he decided not to run again. 1929 saw the election of Herbert Hoover, and the biggest economic crash in United States history.

In summary, Calvin Coolidge was a somewhat controversial president, but I think the things that he did (and the things that he didn’t do) helped the economy and America as a whole.

Reference:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Calvin-Coolidge

Timeline of World War I

8G History Lesson 105 Assignment

This assignment will be a little different than the usual. I’ll be using a timeline format, covering the main facts, battles, and history of the war.

June 28, 1914

Archduke of Austria Assassinated

The Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie are are assassinated by a Serbian nationalist while traveling in Sarajevo. This sparked violence against the Serbian people.

July 28, 1914

WWI Begins

World War I officially begins when Austria declares war on Serbia. Austria starts to bomb Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

September 6, 1914

Battle of the Marne Begins

The Germans try to capture Paris, but are stopped by the British and French.

November 5, 1914

Ottoman Empire gets involved

France and Britain declare war on the Ottoman empire.

April 25, 1915

Second Battle of Ypres

The Second Battle of Ypres takes place. The Germans use chlorine gas on the Allied forces.

May 7, 1914

The Lustiania sinks

The Germans sink the British Lustiania, almost 1,200 people are killed.

February 21, 1916

Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun begins. This is one of the longest and bloodiest battles in the war, over 300,000 are killed over the span of 10 months.

July 1, 1916

Battle of the Somme

In the first day of this battle, over 20,000 British soldiers are killed.

April 6, 1917

U.S. Enters the War

The U.S. declares war on Germany.

November 20, 1917

Tanks

Tanks are first used in large-scale combat by the British.

September 26, 1918

Battle of Meuse-Argonne

This is the last battle in the war. The Allied British and German forces drive out the Germans.

June 28, 1919

Treaty of Versailles

The Allies and Germany sign a peace agreement, ending the war.

The First World War had a large impact on the world. It saw the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, the Ottoman empire, and the Russian empire. It was extremely sad, as all wars are. If it was avoided, over 8 million more soldiers would have survived.

References:

https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I

Woodrow Wilson

8G History Lesson 100 Assignment

This week’s assignment is about Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president.

Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856, in Virginia. His father was a Presbyterian minister, and his mother was the daughter of an English Presbyterian minister. He was raised as a Christian. Wilson didn’t learn how to read until he was 10, but he became very interested in literature and politics. He went to Princeton University, then went to the University of Virginia, where he studied law. He became bored and felt like law wasn’t the right career for him, so he studied government at Johns Hopkins University. He is the only president to earn a Ph.D, and he wrote many books on politics.

Woodrow Wilson married Ellen Louise Axon in 1885, and guess what? She was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister! They had three daughters. He started teaching at Princeton in 1890, and quickly became president of the university. This attracted the attention of many politicians, and he decided to resign as president of Princeton to run for governor of New Jersey, where he became very popular as a conservative.

Wilson decided to run for U.S. president in 1912. There were not one, but two rivals he faced in the main race for president. Theodore Roosevelt split from the Republicans to join the Bull Moose party, and William H. Taft ran as a Republican. He won with a huge 435 electoral college votes, compared to Roosevelt’s 88 votes and Taft’s 8.

As president, Woodrow Wilson increased tariffs significantly, and added an income tax. He also helped to start the Federal Reserve. He was troubled by his wife’s death in 1914, and the beginning of WWI didn’t help things. The U.S. stayed neutral at first, but as America’s ally Britain was being attacked by German ships, Wilson was on the verge of declaring war.

He was again successful in the re-election of 1916, barely winning against Charles Hughes. Woodrow made an attempt at peace in January 1917. But the Germans didn’t care, and kept attacking American ships. After that, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The American troops helped the Allies out, and Germany begged for peace in November of 1918.

Wilson returned to “normal” presidency, but his health was failing. He had a stroke on October 2, 1919 that made him partly paralyzed on his left side. His wife Edith Galt, who he married in 1915, tried to cover up Wilson’s condition. She made a lot of the decisions instead of Wilson.

In his later years, Wilson remained active in politics for a few years. He died somewhat unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of 67.

References:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Woodrow-Wilson