The Great Depression Worksheet
Analyzes causes, New Deal programs, and the human cost of the Great Depression for Grade 7 students using multiple-choice, timeline, and short-answer questions.
18 questions · Multiple choice · Fill in the blank · Timeline · Short answer · Analysis
This worksheet guides Grade 7 students through the causes, turning points, and consequences of the Great Depression, one of the most significant economic crises in American history. Students begin by analyzing key events — from the stock market crash of 1929 to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and the Dust Bowl — before tracing the New Deal programs that reshaped the relationship between the federal government and American citizens. The short-answer section challenges students to compare presidential responses to the crisis and to evaluate historical arguments. Use this sheet after instruction on the 1930s to reinforce analytical thinking and accurate recall of dates, people, and policy decisions. An answer key is included for review.
The Great Depression Worksheet — Grade 7
Read each question carefully and answer in complete sentences where required. Use what you have studied in class to support your responses.
Remember
- The U.S. stock market crashed in October 1929, beginning a decade-long economic crisis affecting millions.
- By 1933, unemployment reached approximately 25 percent; FDR's New Deal launched programs to provide relief.
- The Dust Bowl struck the Great Plains in the 1930s, pushing hundreds of thousands of families westward.
Part A — Analyze key events and causes of the Great Depression
Choose the best answer for each question and circle the letter of your choice.
- 1.
Which event, occurring on October 29, 1929, is known as Black Tuesday?
- A.The collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, triggering the Great Depression
- B.The signing of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act by President Hoover
- C.The failure of the Bank of the United States in New York City
- D.President Hoover's veto of a proposed federal unemployment relief bill
- 2.
What was the approximate national unemployment rate at the Depression's peak in 1933?
- A.25 percent
- B.10 percent
- C.40 percent
- D.15 percent
- 3.
Which New Deal agency, created in 1933, employed young men on conservation projects such as planting trees?
- A.The Civilian Conservation Corps
- B.The Works Progress Administration
- C.The Tennessee Valley Authority
- D.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- 4.
In which region of the United States did severe drought and poor farming practices create the Dust Bowl?
- A.The Great Plains
- B.The Mississippi Delta
- C.The Pacific Northwest
- D.The Appalachian region
- 5.
Why did the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 worsen the Depression rather than protect the economy?
- A.Other nations raised their own tariffs in retaliation, drastically cutting U.S. exports
- B.It reduced federal tax revenue, leaving the government unable to fund any relief programs
- C.It raised tariffs on Latin American goods, damaging diplomatic and trade relations
- D.It caused American manufacturers to move their factories overseas to avoid higher import costs
- 6.
What was the primary purpose of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, established in 1933?
- A.To guarantee bank deposits so customers would not lose savings if their bank failed
- B.To regulate stock market trading and prevent speculative investment
- C.To provide federal loans to farmers facing foreclosure on their land
- D.To fund public works projects and create jobs for unemployed Americans
Part B — Complete each statement with the correct term
Fill in each blank with the term that correctly completes the statement.
- 7.
Shantytowns where homeless Americans lived during the Depression were nicknamed ____.
- 8.
FDR's ____ of March 1933 temporarily closed all U.S. banks to prevent further financial collapse.
- 9.
Dust Bowl migrants, many from Oklahoma, were called ____ by Californians who resented their arrival.
- 10.
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 separated commercial banking from ____ banking to limit financial risk.
- 11.
The ____ Valley Authority built dams and provided electricity to rural areas of the South.
Part C — Place each event on the Great Depression timeline
Write the number of each event next to the correct year on the printed timeline below.
The Great Depression Era, 1929-1939
- 12.
The New York Stock Exchange collapses on Black Tuesday
- 13.
Congress enacts the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising import duties
- 14.
FDR declares a national bank holiday and signs the Emergency Banking Act
- 15.
Congress passes the Social Security Act, creating federal retirement and unemployment insurance
Part D — Answer each question in two to three sentences
Answer each question in two to three complete sentences, supporting your response with specific evidence.
- 16.
How did risky financial practices in the 1920s contribute to the severity of the 1929 stock market crash? Explain in two or three sentences.
- 17.
Compare how Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt responded to the Depression. Why did many Americans hold Hoover responsible for the crisis?
- 18.
Did the New Deal solve the Great Depression? Explain your reasoning, using at least one specific program as evidence.
Answer key
Part A — Analyze key events and causes of the Great Depression
- 1.The collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, triggering the Great Depression
- 2.25 percent
- 3.The Civilian Conservation Corps
- 4.The Great Plains
- 5.Other nations raised their own tariffs in retaliation, drastically cutting U.S. exports
- 6.To guarantee bank deposits so customers would not lose savings if their bank failed
Part B — Complete each statement with the correct term
- 7.Hoovervilles
- 8.bank holiday
- 9.Okies
- 10.investment
- 11.Tennessee
Part C — Place each event on the Great Depression timeline
- 12.1929 - the New York Stock Exchange collapses on October 29, marking the start of the Great Depression.
- 13.1930 - the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is signed, triggering retaliatory tariffs that sharply reduce international trade.
- 14.1933 - FDR temporarily closes all U.S. banks and signs emergency banking legislation, launching the New Deal.
- 15.1935 - the Social Security Act is signed into law, establishing federal insurance for retirees and the unemployed.
Part D — Answer each question in two to three sentences
- 16.Example: During the 1920s, many investors bought stocks on margin, meaning they borrowed most of the purchase price and paid only a small fraction themselves. When prices began to fall, brokers demanded immediate repayment, forcing investors to sell quickly and driving prices even lower in a destructive cycle. This dependence on borrowed money transformed an ordinary market downturn into a catastrophic collapse that wiped out fortunes and triggered bank failures across the country.
- 17.Example: President Hoover believed the economy would correct itself and resisted large-scale federal relief, arguing it would undermine individual self-reliance. Roosevelt, by contrast, launched the New Deal — a series of programs that directly employed millions, regulated the banking system, and supported struggling farmers. Many Americans held Hoover responsible because poverty and unemployment worsened throughout his term, and the makeshift shantytowns that appeared in cities were sarcastically named Hoovervilles in his honor.
- 18.Example: The New Deal significantly reduced hardship but did not fully end the Depression; unemployment remained above 14 percent as late as 1940. Programs such as the Works Progress Administration employed millions on public projects, providing income and improving infrastructure, but demand was still not sufficient to restore full employment. Full economic recovery came only with the massive industrial mobilization that accompanied American entry into World War II.
What this sheet teaches
- Identify key causes of the 1929 stock market crash and explain how they produced economic collapse.
- Compare the economic responses of Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt to the Great Depression.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of specific New Deal programs in addressing Depression-era hardships.
Notes for the adult
- Students often conflate the stock market crash with the Depression's cause; clarify that the crash triggered a much wider economic collapse.
- Correct the belief that the New Deal alone ended the Depression; WWII mobilization is widely credited with completing the recovery.
- A student is ready to advance when they connect a specific New Deal program to the economic problem it was designed to address.
What is on the page
There are four parts to The Great Depression Worksheet, 18 exercises between them. Multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, timeline and short-answer work, in that order, so a student who has understood the material has to show it in more than one form before the page is finished.
Part A Analyze key events and causes of the Great Depression asks six multiple-choice questions with four printed options each. Part B Complete each statement with the correct term gives five sentences with a blank each and no word bank, so the wording has to come from the student. Part C Place each event on the Great Depression timeline prints a timeline labeled "The Great Depression Era, 1929-1939", six ticks running from 1929 to 1939 — 10 years across the page — and four events to place on it. Part D Answer each question in two to three sentences is three short-answer questions with nine ruled lines between them, which is the part of the sheet that takes the longest.
Nine ruled lines are printed for written answers on The Great Depression Worksheet, which decides how long it takes more than the question count does. The answer key prints on its own page at the end, so the sheet can be handed out without it.
What it asks of the student
The Great Depression Worksheet puts about 549 words of reading in front of the student — the fact box, the directions, every question, and every printed option. That is the number worth checking against a class before it goes out, because a sheet that is pitched right on the history and wrong on the reading fails for the same child either way. The longest single prompt on it runs to 24 words.
Writing runs the other way on The Great Depression Worksheet: nine ruled lines for three of the 18 exercises, and the full answer key comes to 335 words. Everything else is answered in a blank, in a box, or on the map itself, which is why the sheet takes a lesson rather than a homework slot.
Where this one sits
The Great Depression Worksheet is one of ten US History: Events & Eras sheets on this site and one of 14 written for grade 7. It is the only one on the great depression, so nothing else here repeats it.
The closest things to it are Reconstruction and the Civil War Amendments Worksheet (grade 7) and Timelines and Sequencing in U.S. History (grade 7). If The Great Depression Worksheet lands well, those are the ones to reach for next; if it lands badly, the analysis sheets a grade either side are usually the adjustment rather than a different topic altogether.
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