USA 1917-1929
- Created by: George Heard
- Created on: 15-04-18 10:42
Economic impact of the USA+isolationism
- Economic impact:
- by 1917 produced and used 70% of worlds oil
- Huga mid-west farms grew 30% of the world's wheat and 75% of corn
- Expanded global share of trade
- Isolationism:
- Wilson's 14 points faiiled to get enough support and suffered a stroke 1919
- congress rejected both LON and TOV(treaty of Versailles)
- No desire to be dragged into another European war
- USA had mobilized 4.3 million for WW1 and suffered 323000 casualties
- WW1 cost the USA $26.5 million
- wanted to keep freedom by acting independenlty without the LON
- Warren Harding won a landslide on a platform of a return to normalcy
- US returned to isolationism(no LON, quotas and tariffs)
Protectionism
- Aim to protect home-grown industries the republican party introduced tariffs to protect domestic producers from foreign imports
- The Emergency Tariff 1921 increased rates on wheat, sugar, meat, wool and agricultural products from other nations
- Fordney-McCumber Tariff 1922 further increased tariffs on foreign agricultural and industrial imports
- Both helped the US economy grow rapidly
- Republican measures that helped businesses grow: low taxation and regulation and the promotion of trusts (huge powerful corporations)
Immigration: attitudes and the Red scare/Sacco and
- Attitudes
- The US was a very diverse and most Americans were of immigrant background(more than 8 million) almost a million per year migrated 1901-1910 as many escaping poverty in Europe
- Immigration caused tension between the more established groups (Irish and German) and newer (Italian or Eastern Europe)
- Prejudice, racism, religious difference and social problems added to the tension
- The Red scare/Sacco and Vanzetti Case
- There was hostility to new ideas (communism) which was described as the red scare
- Us government kept files on 60,000 suspects and 10,000 were deported by 1920
- 1919 bombings supported by immigrant radicals increased tension
- Sacco and Vanzetti case 1920-1921
- Two Italian immigrants who admitted they had radical views were arrested and accused of an armed robbery where two people were killed
- They were both executed 1927 and it showed prejudice
Prohibition
Reasons introduced Prohibition – had strong backing in rural areas C19 onwards and had support from churches and members of Congress Groups such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union campaigned against the excesses and evils caused by alcohol and immorality in big cities (e.g. NY and Chicago) C20 became a national campaign – by 1916 21 states had banned saloons – and some industrialists backed the movement
Successes and failures
Prohibition lasted from 1920-33 (21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment) Prohibition failed, but did achieve some successes, for example: During the 1920s levels of alcohol consumption fell by about 1/3 It was popular in rural areas and the Midwest Large numbers of illegal distilleries were seized (total of over 280,000) and gallons of spirits confiscated (1925: 11m) and many arrests were made (1929 67,000) It was hard to get conviction Prohibition enforcement was not well-funded and there was a lack of enforcement agents (who covered huge areas) Initially, there were only 1500 prohibition agents, though this number had almost doubled by 1930. However, they had to patrol 29,000 km of coastline and keep an eye on 125million people
Organised crime and other effects
- Corruption and bribery were very common undermining the law
- gangs made more than $2billion per year selling alcohol illegally
- gang violence cause riots, prostitution and gambling
- 130 murders in Chicago 1926-1927 and not one arrest
- gang leaders making millions
- capone bribed officials(judges, police officers and the city mayor
economic boom+Mass production
- The US had growing industrial power and a wealth of natural resources
- post-WW1 the US could boost global trade
- Republican policies during the 1920s helped the economy to grow with low taxation on businesses
- The USA loaned money to European countries to buy American goods
- Real wages rose by 11% by 1929
- By 1929 the USA produced 46% of the world's industrial goods
- Mass production
- The boom in the 1920s led to three key industries growing-motor vehicles, electricity and electrical goods and chemicals
- 1 in 5 in the US bought cars which showed a richer economy and more commodities
- New mass production techniques helped this such as Ford who used the production line
- road construction became the biggest single employer because of the USA's biggest inidustry the car industry
Consumerism+Farming+older industries
- Consumerism
- New methods developed to get people to buy things e.g. mass advertising, travelling salesman, stock brokers+4 million shareowners
- The stock market became key as people thought that they could get rich quick+some people loaned money to invest in the stock market. Therefore businesses had more money so production went up
- Farming
- The farming sector enjoyed a sustained period of prosperity during the 1920s
- Overproduction was a real problem as more land was farmed with greater efficiency as better and more efficient farm machinery and better fertiliser techniques
- Very high levels of unemployment as masses moved to the city because of better machinery
- 600,000 lost their farms in 1924
- Some farmers did experience growth to fill a healthy wealthy demand
- Older industries
- Workers in older industries e.g. coal, leather and textiles+living conditions were poor for these
- leather and textiles faced competition from new man-made materials
- 40% of people lived below the poverty line
The roaring twenties:Women
- women
- Pre WW1 women's roles and opportunities were restricted e.g. clothing, make-up and behaviour(expected to have chaperones to go to sports events and to smoke in public)
- job opportunities were limited e.g. cleaning and secretarial work which paid low
- worse for women in rural areas
- After WW1 things began to change as more women were working in factories
- 10 million women employed by 1929
- films and novels started o show woman as heroic
- divorces became more common
- limitations still existed as they were paid less and had little influence over politics
- Women wore higher skirts and went out with more freedom
leisure and entertainment
- social changes occurred especially in urban areas fulled by the growth of cities
- People had disposable income that could be spent on commodities and entertainment keeping other industries alive
- The working week became shorter
- movie industry took off because people had more money 17000 cinemas set up in 1926
- The jazz age rose as more people owned radios
- Organised sports leagues boomed e.g. Boston red sox or the Yankees
- Growth in leisure lead to people going on more shopping trips, holidays
- Morals
- The US divided and diverse society displayed differing values and attitudes
- People were divided over jazz and prohibition
- Flappers challenged the traditional view of the role of women
- Black people were victims of great prejudice
- The Scopes monkey trial during the 1920s highlighted the ill-feeling between rural and urban areas
- many rural areas believed in creationism rather then Darwins theory of evolution
The position of black Americans
- Attitudes and discrimination
- Despite the end of slavery racial intolerance and state laws showed racial prejudice
- During the 1920s many African Americans moved to large cities like Chicago and NYC
- Jum Crow laws meant that black people led a difficult life and often in poverty as they had to have different water fountains and toilets also blacks didn't have access to good infrastructure
- Ku Klux Klan
- The situation was compounded by 1000s of lynchings and the emergence of a power KKK
- only WAPS could join the Klan
- The KKK discriminated against Jews, Mexicans, Roman Catholics and black people
- It was difficult to change the views of southern Americans
- Black campaigners
- Jazz and art flourished in places like Harlem which became popular amongst white people
- WEB Dubois founded the NAACP(national association for advancement of coloured people) which by 1919 had 90,000 members and 300 branches
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