Assignment #12

ACIE American History - Cambridge International Examinations

Mr. Anthony Perno and Mr. Victor Wisniski – American Senior High School – 2009/2010 School Year

Syllabus Excerpt: V Boom and Bust, 1920-1941

. . . The origins of depression, the Wall Street crash, Hoover’s failed policies, FDR and the First New Deal, the second phase of the New Deal. American society in the depression. Opposition to the New Deal, the Supreme Court. The New Deal - an evaluation.

· Reading Assignment: America, Past and Present, Chapter #26, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, pages 749-775

· Assignment: Using the above reading assignment, the student will prepare to answer the following essay questions. (One question will be chosen randomly the day of the exam.) The essay should encompass all pertinent syllabus topics.

· Essay Questions:

1. Evaluate the factors that caused the Great Depression in the United States.

2. How different were the policies adopted by Hoover and Roosevelt to deal with the Great Depression?

3. ‘Shapeless and chaotic, with no clear philosophy.’ How valid is this critique of the New Deal, 1933-1940?

4. Consider the view that the New Deal was more significant politically than economically.