the usa 1919 - 1929

the us economy :

why did the economy bom in the 1920's?

?

americas industrial strength

1. usa was a vast country, rich in natural resources, with a growing population

2. growing population meant these people provided a market for the goods produced by the factories.

3. immigration provided cheap unskilled labour

4. america led the world in most areas of industry by the time of the first world war

5. massive steel, coal and textile industries and was the worlds leading oil producer

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impact of the first world war

1. In 1918, most european countries were in ruins.

2. britain and france were heavily in debt and still borrowing as they needed money to rebuild their countries.

3. usa got richer as the result of the war - american industries benefitted by selling arms and munition to britain and france

4. during the war america became short on food so the farms expanded the farms

5. rising food prices has persuaded farmers to take out loans to buy more land and machinery

6. in the 1920's the usa was producing 30% of the worlds wheat

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republican policies

1. in the 1920's all the american presidents came from the republican party

2. rebublicans believed that the government should not interfere in the running of businesses.

3. the policy of laissez-faire led to greater prosperity.

4. taxes were kept low so people had more money to spend and the rich became very wealthy

5. tariffs were put on foreign imports protecting american companies from competition

6. farmers and industrey were protected when the president introduced fordney-,McCumber tariff in 1922

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new industries and methods - mass productions

1. phones, radios, vacuum cleaners and washing machines were made through "mass production", making them cheaper so more people could buy them.

2. most imnportant was the car industry - first car was built in the 1890's but were very expensive until henry ford revolitionisned care production

3. ford used standardisation - each car was the same which saved money, storage and time

4. 1913, the first moving production line in the world - most famous was the model T. more the 15 milion were produced between 1908 and 1925. in 1927 the came off the production line at a rare of one every 10 seconds.

5. by the end of the 1920's, america was producing 4.8 million cars per year,

6. a massive army of labourers was involved in the building new roads

7. wages were also increasing as companies made huge profit

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consumer confidence

1. mass nationwide advertising had been used for the first time during the war to get people to dupport the war.

2. posters, radios commercials and travelling salesmen encouraged americans to spend.

3. "buy now, pay later" hire purchase schemes. eight out of ten radios and six out of ten cars were bought on credit

4. many americans bought shares in the boominb industies

5. the believed that their money would increase over time

6. by 1927 many americans were borrowing monwy to buy shares - this was called buying "on the margin"

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the boom cycle

more workers employed  

. . . .

more wages spent 

 . . . 

more good bought 

. ..

more goods made  . .

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