History - 1920s USA

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  • Created by: zuljupri
  • Created on: 28-05-17 09:11

Americans in 1900s

Old Immigrants:

  • WASPS- the most powerful group of immigrants, came from northern and western Europe.

Native American Indians:

  • Originally lived across whole of US, but were forced off their land between 1850-1890.

Black Americans:

  • Were brought to work as slaves in 18th century. 11 million black people lived in US by 1920.

Southern and Eastern Europeans:

  • In the late 19th century, most migrants came from Russia, Poland and Italy.

Asians:

  • Chinese and Japanese helped to create the cities and railroads.
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Isolationism

League of Nations Refusal:

  • Woodrow Wilson fails to get re-elected.
  • Involvement would have cost a lot of money.
  • Didn't want American soldiers to fight.
  • Didn't want to be involved in European affairs.
  • Didn't want to be the 'world's policeman'

WW1 Effect on USA:

  • Over 115,000 men had died in only 9 months of fighting.
  • The US economy was booming due to trade being created with Europe who couldn't trade.
  • The USA was now the world's leading power.
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Consequences of WW1

Social Problems:

  • Unemployment rose with 4 million soldiers stuggling to get their jobs back.
  • Prices had doubled between 1914-1919, leading to violent strikes in 1919.
  • The war had triggered a Communist revolution in Russia.
  • 2 communist parties were established in 1919, and anarchists started a wave of bomb attacks.
  • In 23 cities across the US there were race riots in 1919.
  • Many black people moved from the North to the South and suffered attacks.

Economic Strength:

  • During WW1 there was one-way trade with Europe for food, raw materials and munitions.
  • The USA had taken over European overseas markets and industries became more successful.
  • The war had led to advances in technology, with the USA the world leader in the industry.
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Consequences of WW1

Isolationism:

  • Woodrow Wilson had made the '14 points' and wanted the USA to be a leader in the League.
  • Many in America didn't want to be part of the world as a leader.
  • In 1919 and 1920 Congress refused to support Wilson and rejected the League.
  • The newly elected President Harding wanted the return of 'normalcy'.

Immigration Problems:

  • Less people wanted the open-door immigration policy to continue.
  • There wasn't much land available, and the need for workers decreased because of mechanism.
  • Immigrant Ghettos were appearing in large northern cities, full of crime, drunkness, prostitution.
  • Many Americans believed the immigrants were to blame for these problems.
  • In 1917, a literacy test was introduced, meaning immigrants had to prove they could read a   40-word passage to gain entry.
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1920s Immigration Policies

Immigration Quota Act - 1921

  • A quota system was introduced and new immigrants were allowed in as long as it was less than 3% of people of the same nationality who had been in America in 1910.

National Origins Act- 1924

  • The quota was reduced to 2% of the 1890 censusallowing more English & Irish immigrants in.

Immigration Act- 1929

  • Only 150,000 immigrants per year were allowed in.
  • No Asians were allowed in.
  • Northern and Western Europeans were to be allocated 85% of all these places.
  • This was to restrict the number of immigrants from southern, eastern Europe, Japan, China.
  • By 1930 immigration to the USA from these areas had virtually stopped.
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Sacco & Vanzetti

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants.

In May 1920 Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and accused of armed robbery and killing 2 people

They had radical anti-government pamphlets in the car and didn't have an alibi on the day.

From the beginning, public opinion was against them because of their political ideas and because they were immigrants.

61 witnesses said they had seen them at the crime, while 107 witnesses said they saw them somewhere else when the crime was committed.

During the case in May 1921, Judge Webster Thayer was prejudiced against the two men.

Despite a man called Celestino Madeiros later admitting he committed the crime, Sacco and Vanzetti still lost their appeal.

In August 1927, they were both executed by electrocution in Charlestown prison. 

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Ku Klux Klan

Enrolement:

  • Fanatics who believed that the best American citizens were WASPs, and didn't want foriegners.
  • 1920 - 100,000 members. // 192[p5 - 5 million members.

Secretive organisation:

  • Held meetings at night with burning crosses and white robes covering their faces and hair.

Actions taken:

  • Lynched black people under the Jim Crow Laws.
  • Boycotted shops that sold goods to black people or shops run by Jews or foriegners.
  • Hang black people, pour tar on them or burn them.

Difficulty:

  • Most of the police force were members of KKK along with influential members of society.
  • In the South of America lynching was legal.
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Jim Crow Laws

The term used to describe laws in Southern states that seperated black and white people.

"Seperate But Equal" was the phrase used.

Jim Crow Laws:

  • Black and White people could not marry each other.
  • People had to pass a reading and writing test in order to vote.
  • Segregated schools for black and white children.
  • Segregated train carriages.
  • Black people had to sit at the back of the bus.
  • There were inferior facilities for black people in each town.
  • It was NOT illegal to lynch a black person suspected of a crime.
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Black Political Movements

NAACP:

  • Stood for National Association for the Advanacement of coloured people.
  • Founded by W.E.B DuBois.
  • Dedicated to equal rights and opportunities for all people.
  • It grew rapidly, and had 19,000 members in 300 branches in 1919.
  • Its main campaign was to ban lynching in the South.
  • It failed to ban it in law, but gained public outcry and the number of lynchings fell dramatically.

UNIA:

  • Stood for Universal ***** Improvement and Conservation Association.
  • Founded by Marcus Garney and advocated black power.
  • It reached its peak in 1921 with over 1 million members.
  • Garney pioneered a 'back to Africa' movement to encourage blacks to return to their homeland.
  • They set up a Black Star steamship to carry migrants.
  • They also pressed the League of Nations to hand former colonies to a new African republic.
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Isolationism

  • Americans wanted higher tariffs as they felt USA didn't need the rest of the world.
  • American businesses thrived during the war, and wanted this to continue.
  • American wages were high, their high tariffs were able to protect American jobs.

Emergency Tariff Act (May 1921): increase duties on food imports.

Fordney- McCumber Act (1922):

  • Placing higher tariffs on goods coming from outside the US.
  • Establishing an American Selling Price.
  • 40% - 400%

Effects:

  • High tariffs protected American industry and agriculture from foriegn competition.
  • However, low income earners didn't prosper from this economic growth.
  • The rise in wages made it more expensive to produce goods.
  • Other countries responded to the high tariffs by imposing high tariffs of their own.
  • The agricultural sector relied on exports, and there were high tariffs abroad.
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Economic Boom

New Industries: (cars, electricity, radios, telephones, fridges)

  • Most Americans living in cities had electricity, and most could afford mass-produced cars.

Transport: (paved roads, buses, 3.5 million trucks)

  • Became easier for people to get around, with more public transport available.

Construction: (New factories, office buildings, skyscrapers)

  • More jobs available in construction industry, creating hospitals, schools etc.

Radio: (60,000 radios increased to 10 million in 1929).

  • People were entertained and they were a fundamental part of the entertainment industry.

Shopping: (chain stores, clothing sales increased by 427% in 1920)

  • New clothing for women. New signs and materials used. Goods were delivered to homes.
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Who didn't benefit from Economic Boom

Farmers:

  • 30 million people were farmers. New machines like combine harvesters meant less workers.
  • 3 million farming families were earning less than $1000 a year.
  • Farmers were finding it difficult to pay mortgages and some were evicted.

Blacks:

  • Most of the black population lived in the South and worked as labourers or sharecroppers.
  • 75% of black farm workers lost their jobs in the 1920s.

New Immigrants:

  • Immigrants had high unemployment and were less educated. Most worked in construction.

Old industries:

  • Mechanisation in raw material industries- coal, cotton, tin were suffering.
  • Overproduction meant prices fell and wages fell. In 1922, 600,000 miners went on a 4 month strike.
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Economic Boom Reasons

WW1:

  • American Industries grew during the war, and were ready to meet massive demand for goods

Confidence: meant that Amercians were willing to invest in new products and new ideas.

Advertising: helped to ensure mass consumption of goods, to keep the economic boom going.

Laissez Faire Politics: the policies of republicans were pro business and taxes were lowered.

Natural Resources: the USA had a great store of resources to power industries continously.

Credit: allowed Americans to buy goods even if they didn't have money immediantly available.

Mass Production: goods could be produced cheaply in huge quantities, making them affordable.

New Technologies: new products could be produced using rayon, and electricity was common.

Motor Car: thousands of people were employed making cars, and grew other industries (glass)

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Henry Ford

Mass Production:

  • Made using mass production, a totally new method pioneered by Henry Ford.
  • Parts were added to the car as it travelled along an assembly line, with machinery used.
  • The Ford factory in Detroit was producing one car every 3 minutes in 1913.
  • In 1920 a car was made every 10 seconds.
  • This encouraged other industries to take up the idea of mass production.

Model T:

  • The Model T was incredibly popular as it gave Americans a sense of freedom.
  • They were able to travel to different places in America.
  • Everyone could afford it at $295 and it gave farmers and ranches new opportunities.
  • It allowed new roads to be built, new methods of farming, and was an all-purpose car.

Car Production:

  • 20% of steel / 80% of rubber / 75% of plate glass / 65% of leather.
  • By the end of 1920s American cars used 7 billion gallons of petrol a year.
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Cycle of Prosperity

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Prohibition

Prohibition- the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, banning the manufacture and sale of alcohol.

Wets- against the introduction of prohibition.

Dries- support the introduction of prohibition.

Bootleggers- manufacturers or suppliers of illegal alcohol.

Speakeasy- a basement bar that sold illegal alcohol.

Moonshine- illegal homemade alcohol.

Bathtub Gin- homemade alcohol.

January 1920 - December 1933.

The Volstead Act

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Prohibition

Temperance Movement:

  • Temperance was a common feature among religious groups in the USA.
  • The dries became stronger with the formation of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.
  • The Anti-Saloon league was also formed in 1893.
  • They campaigned in each of the states for alcohol to be prohibited.

First World War:

  • In 1917 the Anti-Saloon League had managed to make prohibition one of the big issues.
  • When America entered WW1 it gave their anti-drunk propaganda a boost.
  • Most American brewers were of German descent and had German names.
  • They protrayed drink as the cause of German aggression.
  • They suggested no alcohol was a patriotic duty.
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Prohibition Failure

Police Figures:

  • Drunk in 1920- 14,313 / Drunk in 1925- 51,361
  • Drink Driving in 1920- 494 / Drink Driving in 1925- 820

Bootleggers and Smugglers:

  • Bootleggers brought illegal liquor suppliers into the cities.
  • Rum was smuggled from the West Indies and Whisky from Canada.
  • Joseph Kennedy made a lot of money in the illegal liquor trade.
  • Bootleggers organised themselves into gangs to transport goods.

Speakeasies:

  • By 1925 there were more than 15,000 in Detroit.
  • By 1929 there 32,000 in New York.

FAILED BECAUSE OF SPEAKEASIES, INCREASED DRUNK, GANGSTERS

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Al Capone

Early Life:

  • Spent most of his early adult life working for other gangs in Chicago.
  • He joined Fire Points Gang that was led by Torrio.
  • In 1925 he took over Torrio and killed gangsters plotting against him.

Prohibition:

  • He became famous during the Prohibition as the most well-known bootlegger.
  • He undertook the systematic corruption of Chicago, controlling policemen, judges and officials.
  • He spent £250,000 to get his own man elected mayor.
  • He associated himself with big businessmen and organised parties with alcohol for them.
  • He opened up clubs and brought in famous artists and jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong
  • He also gave a lot of charity and donated generously to the community.
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Al Capone

St Valentine's Day Massacre:

  • He organised the murder of 7 members of his main rival gang, Moran.
  • All 7 were brutally shot, and Moran was the main target but managed to escape.
  • It totally changed the perception of Al Capone, who was seen as a hero in some places.

Fortune:

  • $60million alcohol
  • $25million gambling
  • $10million protection rackets
  • $10million dance halls & prostitution.

Justice Difficulty:

  • He always claimed hew as a businessman giving the people what they wanted.
  • He was very popular with the people who disagreed with the Volstead Act.
  • He had his own Mayor of Chicago and controlled most of the city.
  • He made sure that nothing in his business was directly associated with him directly.
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Women

Jobs:

  • More women were entering work, with mechanical technology meant it was less demanding.
  • The radio industry preferred women over men, and many young women were in office work.
  • Businesses were able to pay lower wages than men.
  • By 1929, there over 10 million in paid employment- a 25% increase in 1920.

Image:

  • Clothes had changed to waistless knee-length lightweight dresses.
  • More women had short-hair as a sign of liberation, as well as more makeup.
  • Flapper was a name given to urban women, who represented an example of change.
  • They had short skirts, bobbed hair, powdered knees, bright clothes and lots of make-up.

Lifestyle:

  • Women smoke in public and drove cars.
  • Middle class women had more free time, with new inventions such as the vaccum.
  • If they had a car they were no longer bound to the home.
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Women

Rights:

  • Women still had to clean and do the housework, but they could now go to work.

Improvements:

  • Women could vote.
  • More women now work.
  • New technology allowed their jobs to be easier.
  • Women were free to leave the house if they had a car.

Didn't Change:

  • Equal rights amendment failed.
  • Men got their jobs back after the war.
  • Women still had to clean and look after houses.
  • Women were paid less than men.
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Wall Street Crash

Buying on the margin:

  • People borrowing money from banks and using them to buy shares.
  • The profit made was used to pay back the debt they owed.
  • When the crash came, people had lost their borrowed money, but didn't have any money at all

Small Investors:

  • In the crash, small investors couldn't pay back the banks so the banks were closing.
  • In 1929, nearly 700 banks collapsed, and people lost confidence and trust in the banks.

American Economy:

  • The American Economy was strong, but there was unequal distribution of wealth.
  • More than half of Americans live below the poverty line.

Overproduction:

  • Demand fell once Americans bought their consumer goods, meaning goods weren't needed.
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Wall Street Crash

Impact on Economy:

  • Black Thursday 24 October 1929- 13 million shares sold. Nobody wanted to buy, and prices fell
  • Panic Selling- Prices kept falling to try to sell shares.
  • Banks buying surplus shares- a group of bankers spend $250,000,000 buying shares.
  • Monday 28 October 1929- 9 million shares sold at falling prices.
  • Tuesday 29 October- 16 million shares sold for any price. Shareholders lost $8bn on that day.

Effects:

  • Big investors lost heavily. The Vanderbilt family lost $40million.
  • Banks started evicting homes from people, and unemployment rose to 12 million in 1932.

Cities: No-one could afford goods, so factories couldn't sell, cutting production, wages, jobs

Farms: Food prices fell, wages fell. Production increased, prices fell more. Farmers couldn't pay debts or mortgages. Banks took over their farms to pay off debts.

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Wall Street Crash

Wall Street Crash in 1929 decreased share prices a lot.

Banks which had invested their customer' money in shares lost heavily.

The banks called in any outstanding loans from customers.

People lost confidence in the banks and took all their money out.

In 1929, 654 banks went bankrupt.

In 1931, 2294 banks went bankrupt.

Companies went bankrupt as all their loans were called in.

Between 1929 and 1932, 109,371 businesses failed.

Factories closed and by 1932, industrial production was halved.

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