Causes of the Great Depression: Systemic Issues

This topic asks students to confront uncomfortable truths about wartime America, where systemic failures collided with patriotic narratives. Active learning helps students move from passive absorption of facts to critical analysis by engaging with primary sources, role-playing legal arguments, and examining human stories behind policy decisions.

• 11th Grade
• US History
• 3 activities
• 40 min–60 min

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze the impact of overproduction and unequal wealth distribution on economic stability prior to the Great Depression.
2. Explain the causal relationship between specific Federal Reserve policies and the deepening of the economic crisis.
3. Evaluate the role of international trade policies, such as tariffs, in exacerbating the global economic downturn.
4. Synthesize information from primary and secondary sources to construct an argument about the primary systemic causes of the Great Depression.

Case Study Analysis

⏱ 60 min·Whole Class

Mock Supreme Court: Korematsu v. United States

Students take on the roles of lawyers for Fred Korematsu and the U.S. government. They argue whether 'military necessity' justifies the mass incarceration of a specific racial group, followed by a discussion of the Court's controversial ruling.

Prepare & details

Analyze the systemic economic problems, such as overproduction and unequal wealth distribution, that preceded the crash.

Facilitation Tip: For the Mock Supreme Court, assign roles in advance and provide students with excerpts from the majority and dissenting opinions to ensure they grapple with legal reasoning rather than improvising.

Setup: Groups at tables with case materials

Materials: Case study packet (3-5 pages), Analysis framework worksheet, Presentation template

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

Inquiry Circle

⏱ 50 min·Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The 'Double V' Campaign

Small groups research the efforts of Black Americans to fight for victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home. They create a 'front page' for a Black newspaper of the era, highlighting their contributions and their demands.

Prepare & details

Explain how the Federal Reserve's policies contributed to the economic collapse.

Facilitation Tip: During the Collaborative Investigation, assign small groups specific aspects of the Double V Campaign to research, such as the Pittsburgh Courier’s role or African American women’s contributions, to avoid overlapping findings.

Setup: Groups at tables with access to source materials

Materials: Source material collection, Inquiry cycle worksheet, Question generation protocol, Findings presentation template

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Gallery Walk

⏱ 40 min·Pairs

Gallery Walk: Life in the Camps

Display photos (including those by Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange) and letters from Japanese American internment camps. Students move in pairs to identify the daily hardships and the ways people maintained their dignity and community.

Prepare & details

Evaluate the role of international economic factors, like war debts and tariffs, in globalizing the crisis.

Facilitation Tip: For the Gallery Walk, display photographs and personal accounts at eye level and provide sticky notes for students to record questions or reactions, ensuring quiet reflection space amid the activity.

Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter

Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Teaching This Topic

Teachers should frame this topic as a study of systemic failure, emphasizing how policies and attitudes compounded each other. Avoid oversimplifying the internment as a wartime necessity; instead, focus on the intersection of racism, economic anxiety, and wartime hysteria. Research shows that students retain complex historical lessons best when they grapple with primary sources and legal arguments rather than lectures.

What to Expect

Students will demonstrate understanding by identifying systemic causes of the Great Depression, analyzing primary documents for bias and evidence, and connecting historical events to legal and ethical consequences. Success looks like students questioning government actions, distinguishing fact from fiction, and articulating the human impact of economic policies.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During the Mock Supreme Court activity, watch for students repeating the misconception that Japanese Americans were interned because there was evidence of spying.

What to Teach Instead

Use the 'fact-check' portion of the Mock Supreme Court to have students examine Executive Order 9066 and Korematsu v. U.S. for evidence of spying. Provide excerpts from intelligence reports and military statements to highlight the lack of corroborating evidence, reinforcing the correction through primary source analysis.

Common Misconception

During the Collaborative Investigation on the Double V Campaign, watch for students assuming the campaign only involved African American men.

What to Teach Instead

Direct students to the Pittsburgh Courier’s archives and personal testimonies to uncover the roles of women, youth, and other marginalized groups. Ask groups to present on these overlooked voices to challenge the assumption that the campaign was limited to one demographic.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

After the Mock Supreme Court activity, pose the question: 'Which systemic issue in the Great Depression—overproduction or unequal wealth distribution—do you believe contributed more to the collapse, and why?' Use student arguments to assess their ability to connect evidence to economic causes.

Quick Check

During the Collaborative Investigation, provide students with a short reading on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. Ask them to identify two specific negative consequences of this policy on international trade and the U.S. economy in 3-4 sentences, collecting responses to assess comprehension.

Exit Ticket

After the Gallery Walk, ask students to write a one-sentence explanation for how the Federal Reserve’s actions (or inactions) contributed to the Great Depression, and one sentence explaining how a tariff policy could worsen an economic crisis, collecting these to gauge understanding of systemic causes.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students to write a persuasive letter to the editor from the perspective of a Japanese American citizen protesting internment, using evidence from the Korematsu case.
• Scaffolding: Provide sentence stems for students struggling to articulate the connection between overproduction and bank failures during the Great Depression.
• Deeper exploration: Have students compare the U.S. internment policies to Canada’s wartime treatment of Japanese Canadians, analyzing how different governments justified similar actions.

Key Vocabulary

Overproduction	A situation where the supply of goods exceeds the demand for them, leading to falling prices and potential business failures.
Unequal Wealth Distribution	A significant disparity in the amount of wealth owned by different segments of the population, leading to reduced consumer spending power for the majority.
Monetary Policy	Actions undertaken by a central bank, like the Federal Reserve, to manipulate the money supply and credit conditions to stimulate or restrain economic activity.
Protectionism	An economic policy of shielding domestic industries from foreign competition by taxing imports, often leading to retaliatory tariffs.
Speculative Bubble	A situation where asset prices rise rapidly and unsustainably, driven by market excitement rather than underlying value, often followed by a sharp decline.