Curated OER
History Matters: Laissez Faire for Depression Woes
Read this transcript of the testimony of Yale Professer William Graham Sumner speaking before a committee of the House of Representatives in 1878. His contention was that even with the thread of depression, it was in business' best...
Digital History
Digital History: Economic and Foreign Policy Problems
The new American nation in the Confederation Era faced a host of economic and foreign policy problems. Read about the problems and why they were so serious.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Fdr's First Inaugural Address
Features background on FDR and his platform for dealing with the Great Depression. Included are primary source documents of his first inaugural address and photos related to his New Deal programs.
Mount Holyoke College
Mt. Holyoke College: The World in Depression, 1929 39
A book chapter which provides an explanation for the causes of the global depression that started in 1929. Gives several reasons, reactions, and consequences, both nationally and worldwide. Also provides a bibliography of sources.
PBS
Pbs Online News Hour Extra: u.s. Economy Officially in a Recession
The verdict is in and the U.S. is in a recession. Find a succinct explanation of the 2008 recession and backtrack to the Great Depression. Follow up with discussion questions and a lesson plan complete with a glossary of terms. December...
Other
Calliope Film: Shays' Rebellion and the Constitution
Synopsis of the historical significance of Shays' Rebellion in 1786 and how this upheaval influenced the Continental Congress to adopt the Constitution of the United States.
University of Oxford (UK)
American National Biography Online: Depressions, Economic
Depressions are sustained troughs in the business cycle characterized by declines in output, employment, income, and trade. While they date from the earliest years of American history, little is known about them from the Colonial Era....
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: The New Deal
This primary source set allows you to explore the crisis of the Great Depression, as well as the dramatic developments of the New Deal, through photographs, speeches, letters, and oral histories. Includes a teaching guide.
Digital History
Digital History: The Market Crashes
Read about how in just five days a shaky stock market crashed and helped plunge the country into the Great Depression.