The Roaring Twenties and Post-WWI America

Vocabulary study cards covering the economic, political, and cultural developments in the U.S. during the 1920s and post-WWI era.

Red Scare

The widespread fear of communism in the United States following World War I.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Two Italian immigrants and anarchists who were accused, convicted, and executed for robbery and murder, serving as a symbol of 1920s nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment.

Assembly Line

A production method widely utilized by Henry Ford to manufacture automobiles quickly and cheaply, making them affordable for average Americans.

Automobile Industry

The top U.S. manufacturing industry of the 1920s in terms of production output, which stimulated growth in related sectors like steel, rubber, glass, and petroleum.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

An economic measurement indicating the total value of goods and services produced in a country, which steadily increased in the United States throughout the 1920s.

Installment Buying

A consumer payment arrangement using credit that allowed Americans to buy modern goods over time, shaping 1920s consumer culture.

Farmers in the 1920s

The primary socio-economic group that did not share in 1920s prosperity due to post-WWI crop overproduction, falling prices, and debt.

Laissez-faire

A hands-off, supportive government policy toward big business favored by Republican presidents in the 1920s.

Calvin Coolidge

The 1920s U.S. President who famously declared that 'the chief business of the American people is business,' summarizing the government's pro-business stance.

Ohio Gang

President Warren G. Harding's untrustworthy group of friends appointed to high government positions, leading to multiple administration scandals.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A government scandal involving Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, who illegally leased government oil reserves in Wyoming to private oil companies for personal gain.

Albert Fall

The Secretary of the Interior under President Harding who committed illegal acts by leasing public oil reserves in exchange for money.

Isolationism

America's post-WWI foreign policy aimed at avoiding foreign alliances and entanglements in world conflicts.

Kellogg-Briand Pact and Washington Naval Conference

Diplomatic efforts in the 1920s designed to prevent future wars and limit international armaments, reflecting the U.S. commitment to isolationism.

Dawes Plan

A financial agreement where the United States loaned money to Germany so Germany could pay its wartime reparations to European nations.

Traditionalism

A mindset emphasizing fundamentalist beliefs, literal interpretations of scripture, and resistance to changing societal norms.

Modernism

A social and cultural movement in the 1920s that embraced contemporary science, urban values, and shifting moral norms.

Scopes Trial

A public trial focused on the controversy of teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution versus creationism in public schools.

Immigration Quota Laws

Legislation passed during the 1920s designed to place legal limits on the number of immigrants entering the United States, targeted primarily at specific foreign nationalities.

Prohibition

The constitutional ban on alcohol created by the 18th Amendment, which inadvertently spurred an expansion of organized crime and bootlegging.

Bootlegging

The illegal manufacturing, smuggling, and sale of alcoholic beverages during the Prohibition era.

Nineteenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment passed in 1920 that granted women the right to vote in the United States.

Great Migration

The relocation of millions of African Americans from the rural South to urban cities in the North to find industrial work and escape racial discrimination.

Jazz

A music genre that spread to northern cities during the 1920s as African Americans migrated from the South.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural, literary, and artistic explosion of African American pride centered in New York during the 1920s, celebrated by artists like Langston Hughes and Billie Holiday.

1918 Influenza Pandemic

A global health outbreak in 1918 that resulted in approximately 675,000 deaths in the United States and 50 million deaths worldwide.

Post-WWI Recession

An economic slowdown following World War I characterized by job loss, rising inflation, and racial tensions over employment and housing.

Post-WWI Inflation

The rapid rise in prices following WWI, caused by a scarcity of consumer products alongside high consumer demand.