Unit 4 History Study Guide

Describe the changes in America during the 1920’s. Be sure to include political, economic and social issues.

Some changes include the expansion of many industries (automobile, film, radio etc.), ratification of 19th and 18th Amendments, change in traditional gender roles, mass unemployment, KKK growing…

Analyze the changes in American government caused by the Great Depression and the New Deal?

The American government passed many bills in order to protect banks, monetary policy, citizens wealth, stock regulation, etc.

What were the monetary issues of the late 19th and early twentieth centuries?

After the Great Depression, Banks were not able to pay back their clients after they had placed their money in the banks. Many were left broke and had no way of getting their money back. This led to the establishment of the Federal Reserve.

What were some of the causes of the Great Depression?

The stock market crashed and many could not receive their money back from the banks. Without the banks, there was a collapse of the nation's money supply. Additionally, many people sold off all of their stocks leading to the stock market crash.

What steps were taken by the Federal Reserve, Congress, and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to combat the economic crisis. 

Hoover - He founded government agencies, encouraged labor harmony, supported local aid for public works, fostered cooperation between government and business in order to stabilize prices, and struggled to balance the budget. His work focused on indirect relief from individual states and the private sector

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Roosevelt - Roosevelt promised Americans a "New Deal" when he took office, and during his first "Hundred Days" as president, he signed a number of groundbreaking new laws. He helped the economy fix itself while Hoover’s ideas did not actually help.

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What were the human toll of the Depression, Natural disasters, and unwise agricultural practices and the effect on the depopulation of rural regions?

The effects of the Depression were worsened by the Dust Bowl, a result of natural drought combined with unwise agricultural practices that led to the dislocation of farmers who could no longer make a living from agriculture in the Great Plains. Many people were left homeless after the Great Depression and many families couldn’t support their children so they sent them off to go find work somewhere else.

What is the Dust Bowl?

The name was given to the drought-stricken southern plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a drought in the 1930s.

What were the controversies arising from New Deal economic policies and the expanded role of the federal government in society and the economy since the 1930s?

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The NRA was perhaps one of the most sweeping and controversial of the early New Deal programs. Its purposes were twofold: first, to stabilize business with codes of "fair" competitive practice and, second, to generate more purchasing power by providing jobs, defining labor standards, and raising wages.

What was the New Deal?

The **New Deal** was a set of domestic policies enacted under President Franklin D. Roosevelt that dramatically expanded the federal government’s role in the economy in response to the Great Depression.

**Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)?**

boosted agricultural prices by offering government subsidies to farmers to reduce output.

**Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)?**

employed young, single men at federally funded jobs on government lands.

**Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)?**

gave federal grants to states that funded salaries for government workers as well as local soup kitchens and other direct-aid to-the-poor programs.

**National Recovery Act (NRA)**

sought to boost businesses’ profits and workers’ wages by establishing industry-by-industry codes that set prices and wages, as well as guaranteeing workers the right to organize into unions.

**Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)**

guaranteed individuals that money they deposited in a bank would be repaid to them by the federal government in the event that their bank went out of business.

**Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 1934**

brought important federal government oversight and regulation to the stock market.

**Works Progress Administration (WPA)**

employed millions of Americans in public works projects, from constructing bridges and roads to painting murals and writing plays.

**Wagner Labor Relations Act**

guaranteed workers the right to form unions and bargain collectively.

**The Social Security Act**

required workers and employers to contribute—through a payroll tax—to the Social Security trust fund. That fund, in turn, makes monthly payments to retirees over the age of 65, as well as to the long-term disabled.

**Fair Labor Standards Act**

mandated a 40-hour work week (with time-and-a-half for overtime), set an hourly minimum wage, and restricted child labor.

Seneca Falls Convention of 1848

first women’s rights convention ever held in the United States. Approximately three hundred activists, female and male, gathered to discuss the condition of women and to devise strategies for achieving social and political rights for women.

19th amendment

guaranteed the right to vote to all US citizens regardless of sex.

**Ku Klux Klan**

a viciously racist organization that employed violence and acts of terror in order to assert white supremacy and maintain a strict racial hierarchy.

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first arose in the south and spread to cities.

Prohibition / 18th amendment

a nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages that lasted from 1920 to 1933.

Negatives of Prohibition

Prohibition led directly to the rise of organized crime.

**Twenty-first Amendment ( probably don’t need to know)**

December 1933, repealed Prohibition

bootlegging

the illegal distillation and sale of alcoholic beverages

policies of Presidents Warren Harding

policies supported businesses at home and isolation from foreign affairs

**Teapot Dome scandal**

was the accusation that Harding’s Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, had bypassed the open bid process in awarding leases for government oil land to private oil companies.

Hardings followers

ohio gang

Calvin Coolidge policies

set to work on cutting taxes and reducing federal spending. In 1924, he signed the **Immigration Act**, which imposed limits on immigration from parts of eastern and southern Europe

Define Roaring 20s?

A decade (10 years) of excessive wealth and financial prosperity (more money and more wealth) in the 1920s.

Images of the roaring 20s?

— Happy people dancing— Music— Cars— Wealth — Optimism (things are good)

Realities of the roaring 20s?

— Alcoholism — Nativism— Discrimination— Violence against immigrants— KKK

Define Great Depression?

The severe economic downturn that began with the stock (ownership of companies or shares of companies) market crash of 1929 and continued into the 1940s. Many people are out of work

Define economic growth?

An increase in the amount of goods and services produced per head of the population over a period of time. (GDP

Define economic downturn?

A decrease in the amount of goods and services produced per head of the population over a period of time. (GDP

Causes of the Great Depression?

Factories and farms produce more goods than people can buy. Factories and farms lost money. Banks make loans that borrowers cannot pay back. Banks lost money. Depositors wanted to withdraw their money. Bank run and banks go out of business. People lose their savings. After the stock market crash

Define stock?

Shares of ownership in a corporation.

Define Stock Market?

Place where stocks are bought and sold.

Define bank run?

Depositors withdrew all of their money at one time.

Great Depression vicious cycle?

People lose jobs. They have less money to spend. Companies make less product and need fewer workers. Companies lay off workers. Then the cycle starts at the beginning.

1932 election?

(FDR) Roosevelt won because people blamed Hoover for the Great Depression. Roosevelt compared the average worker to the 'Forgotten man' Hoover gave warnings of what he thought would happen if Roosevelt won.

Forgotten Man Speech?

FDR promised to uphold the rights of the working-class “forgotten man”

Hoover's Response to the Depression?

The response was that he “did nothing”. Hoover established several new agencies and also funded public works projects in the hope of stimulating the economy and getting the nation back to work. Which did not work. Hoover thought the Great Depression was temporary.

Red Scare (1919-1920)?

Fear of communist spreading to the US.

Causes of the Red Scare?

1. Bolshevik Revolution 2. Spread of Communism through Europe and America 3. Labor strikes

Examples of the first Red Scare?

— Mail and regular bombing — Different strikes like Boston police

Define nativism?

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Examples of Nativism?

— Restrictive immigration laws Rise of Ku Klux Klan (terrorize non-immigrants or non-whites)

Causes of Nativism?

1. Economic: immigrants deprive native-born Americans of jobs by working for lower wages 2. Cultural: dominant culture had to be protected against foreign influences 3. Psychological: immigrants would produce a class of criminals and paupers (poor people that need government) 4. Political: immigrants would be radicals or revolutionaries

Prohibition?

A law forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Reasons for Prohibition?

— Alcohol is considered a prime cause of corruption— Cause of serious social problems (crime

Define prosperity?

A peak of economic activity and good fortune.

Causes of prosperity?

— Mass production of goods (made things cheap)— Electrification of America (electricity)— Created new technologies — People had more money

Realities of 1920s prosperity?

— That was a lot of poverty (farmers

Buying stock on margin?

Buying stock by paying a small percentage of a stock's price as a down payment and borrowing the rest.

What is the New Deal?

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's (FDR) plan to aggressively revive the economy and ease the worst of the suffering caused by the Great Depression.

Key programs of the New Deal (1933)?

— Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) — Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) — Social Security Act (SSA— Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Legacies of the New Deal?

The Federal Government has a responsibility to ensure the health of the economy and the healthcare of its citizens.

Positive aspects of the New Deal?

1. Put people back to work 2. Saved capitalism 3. Restores faith in the American economic system 4. Gave Americans hope after the Great Depression

Negative aspects of the New Deal?

— Raised taxes to pay for programs— Deficit spending

Deficit spending?

Government practice of spending more than it takes in from taxes

Capitalism?

An economic system based on private property and free enterprise.

Fireside Chats?

Radio broadcasts made by FDR to the American people to explain his New Deal initiatives.

Dust Bowl?

Region of the Great Plains that experienced a drought in 1930 lasting for a decade

What is an economic recession?

A period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced

What is an economic depression?

A long period when business activity slows