Great Depression & New Deal Vocabulary

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) - limited production of crops and livestock to prevent surpluses and help farmers. 

Bank holiday - prevents bank runs and renews public confidence in banks.

Black Tuesday - on October 29, 1929 the stock market crashed.

Bonus Expeditionary Force - veterans and their families demanding a bonus from Congress.  

Bull market - rising stock prices.

Buying on margin - paying only part of the price.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) - provided young men with work on public projects.

Dust Bowl - strong winds and dry soil created choking clouds of dust, making farming impossible.

Economic boom - period of general prosperity.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) - protects bank deposits. 

Great Depression - the greatest economic crisis in our nation’s history.

Gross National Product (GNP) - the total amount of goods and services produced by all Americans in a single year. 

Impact of climate and natural disasters - on the Great Plains, a series of droughts combined with unsuitable plowing techniques led to the disaster called the “Dust Bowl”.

National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) - gave workers the right to unionize.

National Recovery Act (NRA) - established the National Recovery Administration. 

National Recovery Administration (NRA) - encouraged businesses to establish codes that set prices, wages, and working hours. 

Recovery - help the economy recover.

Reform - introduce reforms to prevent future depressions. 

Relief - Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted to provide immediate relief to the unemployed.

Roaring Twenties - were a prosperous period in which the economic boom of the Twenties changed consumers, businesses, manufacturing, and marketing practices. 

Sit-Down Strike - refusal to work.

Smoot-Hawley Tariff - highest U.S tariff of all that went into effect in 1930 just after the stock market crash. 

Social Security - an act that was the single most important law passed by the New Deal. 

Speculation boom - rapid growth from investments. 

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) - built dams to control floods and to provide electricity to one of the South’s poorest areas. 

Works Progress Administration (WPA) - created new public works projects to increase employment and stimulate the arts.