The Great Depression was the greatest and most wide-spread financial and economic disaster in the history of the modern world. Many blamed the US for its origin--arguing that it was the carelessness of the banks and stock brokers that led the stock market to crash. This crash sent ripples around the world and forced many Americans into severe poverty.
When the stock market crashed many people lost money. Banks began to close, taking other peoples money with them since they couldn't pay it back. People started to get laid off from their jobs because the business owners could not afford to pay them. During the Great Depression there was also the Dust Bowl in parts of the midwest and crops failed so people started to move out of there and go to California, where they were just turned back by policemen because in California they didn't have any job openings, as they already could not pay people. The unemployment rate rose to 25%. "Hoovervilles" where formed, which were small "villages" in park areas in cities where many unemployed people went (mostly men who could not afford to feed their families and were embarrassed by it, so they left them) and they were full of danger. Overall, the Great Depression was a hard economic downfall on America.
The leader of the House is the Speaker of the House. The Speaker is a House member who is elected by the other representatives. In the Senate, the official leader is the president of the Senate, which is a title held by the vice president of the United States. However, because this role is mostly ceremonial, the true power in the Senate is held by the majority leader.
Renaissance - A period of great cultural and scientific rebirth that began in Italy in the early to mid-14th century and ended during the first half of the 17th century.
