Unit 2 - 1920’s + FDR

Great Depression

A severe economic crisis beginning in 1929 that caused widespread unemployment, bank failures, poverty, and business closures.

Underlying cause vs. catalyst

An underlying cause makes a crisis more likely; a catalyst triggers or intensifies it.

Consumer debt

Money households owed after buying goods on credit; debt made the economy vulnerable when people cut spending.

Overproduction

Producing more goods than consumers can afford to buy, leading to unsold goods, falling prices, and lower profits.

Unequal distribution of wealth

A condition in which wealth is concentrated among a relatively small part of the population, limiting purchasing power for many people.

Limited financial regulation in the 1920s

Inadequate safeguards allowed risky banking practices, stock speculation, and borrowing to expand.

High tariffs

Taxes on imported goods; retaliatory tariffs by other countries reduced international trade and hurt American exporters.

Buying stocks on margin

Buying stocks with borrowed money, which magnified investors' losses when stock prices fell.

Black Monday

October 28, 1929, when the stock market suffered a major decline.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed dramatically.

Stock market crash of 1929

A major collapse in stock prices that destroyed wealth and confidence and intensified existing economic weaknesses.

Bank run

When many customers try to withdraw their money from a bank at the same time.

Bank failures during the Depression

Bank closures caused people to lose savings and made it harder for businesses and individuals to get loans.

Economic downward spiral

A cycle in which falling spending leads to business losses and layoffs, which then reduce spending even further.

Dust Bowl

Severe environmental and agricultural hardship in the Great Plains during the 1930s that worsened farmers' struggles.

FDR

Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected president in 1932 and inaugurated on March 4, 1933; he introduced the New Deal.

FDR's first inaugural address

FDR sought to restore public confidence, famously saying, 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'

New Deal

FDR's collection of federal programs and reforms intended to provide relief, promote economic recovery, and reform the economy during the Great Depression.

The three R's of the New Deal

Relief, Recovery, and Reform: help people immediately, restart economic activity, and prevent future crises.

Relief

New Deal measures that provided immediate assistance to people suffering during the Depression.

Recovery

New Deal measures intended to revive jobs, production, and economic activity.

Reform

New Deal changes intended to correct economic weaknesses and make the economy more stable.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

A New Deal program that employed young men in conservation and public-land projects.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

A New Deal agency that provided federal grants to states for assistance to people in need.

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

A New Deal program that created temporary jobs for unemployed Americans.

Emergency Banking Relief Act (1933)

A law associated with FDR's bank holiday; banks were examined and sound banks were allowed to reopen to restore confidence.

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

A New Deal program that paid farmers to reduce production in an effort to raise agricultural prices and farm incomes.

Controversy over the AAA

Reducing production could harm tenant farmers and sharecroppers, and destroying crops while people were hungry seemed contradictory.

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)

A New Deal law that attempted to coordinate industrial recovery through industry codes and addressed wages, prices, and labor standards.

NIRA and the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court declared the National Industrial Recovery Act unconstitutional in 1935.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

A federal agency created to regulate securities markets and improve oversight of financial practices.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

An agency that insures eligible bank deposits and helps protect depositors if an insured bank fails.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) / Wagner Act

A 1935 law that protected many workers' rights to organize unions and bargain collectively, and established the National Labor Relations Board.

Social Security Act (1935)

A law that established federal retirement benefits and unemployment insurance, expanding the government's role in economic security.

First Hundred Days

The beginning of FDR's presidency in 1933, when his administration and Congress rapidly introduced measures to address the crisis.

Fireside chats

FDR's radio addresses used to explain policies, reassure Americans, and communicate directly with the public.

FDR's court-packing plan

A 1937 proposal to allow additional federal judges under certain conditions, intended in part to make courts more receptive to New Deal policies.

Why was the court-packing plan controversial?

Critics argued that it threatened judicial independence and checks and balances by giving the president more influence over the Supreme Court.

Checks and balances

A constitutional system in which each branch of government has powers that help limit the others.

Did the New Deal end the Great Depression?

No. It provided relief, supported recovery, and created lasting reforms, but World War II mobilization played a major role in ending the Depression.

New Deal's lasting legacy

It expanded federal responsibility for economic security and changed Americans' expectations of the government.

Henry Ford

An industrialist who helped popularize assembly-line manufacturing in the automobile industry.

Assembly line

A production method in which workers perform specialized tasks as a product moves through a standardized process, increasing efficiency.

Mass production

Manufacturing large quantities of standardized goods, often lowering costs and making products more affordable.

Effects of automobile growth

Automobiles expanded related industries such as oil, steel, and rubber, and increased the importance of roads and highways.

Route 66

A highway connecting Chicago to Los Angeles that became associated with automobile travel and communities along highways.

Mass media in the 1920s

Radio, movies, and magazines helped create a shared national popular culture and gave advertising a wider audience.

Consumerism

A culture emphasizing the purchase and use of goods; it grew with mass production, advertising, and installment buying.

A downside of assembly-line work

Repetitive, specialized tasks could reduce workers' autonomy even as production became more efficient.

Why was prosperity uneven in the 1920s?

Some businesses and investors prospered, while many farmers, workers, African Americans, and immigrants faced economic hardship or discrimination.

Prohibition

The nationwide ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors under the 18th Amendment.

18th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that established Prohibition.

Volstead Act

The law that provided for enforcement of Prohibition.

21st Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in 1933 that repealed the 18th Amendment and ended national Prohibition.

Bootlegging

The illegal production or distribution of alcohol during Prohibition.

Speakeasies

Places where people could obtain or drink alcohol illegally during Prohibition.

Why did Prohibition become controversial?

It failed to eliminate drinking and helped expand illegal alcohol distribution and organized crime; enforcement was difficult.

Nativism

Hostility toward immigrants, often connected to fears about culture, jobs, religion, or political radicalism.

First Red Scare

A period after World War I when many Americans feared communism, socialism, anarchism, and revolutionary movements.

Palmer Raids

Raids organized by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer targeting suspected radicals; many arrests raised civil-liberties concerns.

Emergency Quota Act of 1921

A law that established numerical limits on immigration using a quota system based on national origins.

Immigration Act of 1924 / Johnson-Reed Act

A law that tightened immigration restrictions and established national-origin quotas that favored northern and western Europe; it also restricted immigration from Asia, with some exceptions.

Why were immigration laws restrictive in the 1920s?

They reflected nativism, racial and ethnic prejudice, and fears of radicalism and cultural change.

Great Migration

The movement of large numbers of African Americans from the South to other regions, including Northern cities, in search of jobs and to escape Jim Crow and racial violence.

Harlem Renaissance

A flourishing of African American literature, music, art, and intellectual life, especially during the 1920s.

Langston Hughes

A poet and writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance who explored Black identity and experience.

Louis Armstrong

An influential jazz musician associated with the growth of jazz and African American cultural expression.

Duke Ellington

A composer and bandleader who became an important figure in jazz during the Harlem Renaissance era.

W. E. B. Du Bois

An intellectual and civil rights activist associated with the NAACP and the struggle for African American equality.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, an organization that fought racial discrimination and worked to advance civil rights.

Harlem Renaissance's significance

It celebrated African American cultural identity and challenged racist stereotypes, though it did not end systemic discrimination.

Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s

A revived white-supremacist organization hostile to African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, and Jews.

Flappers

A symbol of changing women's fashions and social behavior in the 1920s.

Margaret Sanger

An advocate of birth control and women's reproductive autonomy.

19th Amendment

Ratified in 1920, it prohibited denying the vote on the basis of sex.

Women's equality after suffrage

Winning voting rights did not automatically eliminate workplace discrimination or social and economic inequality.

Scopes Monkey Trial

The 1925 Tennessee trial of teacher John Scopes for teaching human evolution in violation of state law.

Fundamentalism vs. modern science

The Scopes trial symbolized conflict between religious fundamentalist beliefs and modern scientific ideas, especially evolution.

What did the Harlem Renaissance and the KKK represent in contrast?

The Harlem Renaissance celebrated African American identity and creativity, while the KKK promoted white supremacy and exclusion.

How did the 1920s connect to the Great Depression?

Mass production and consumer spending increased prosperity, but debt, overproduction, unequal wealth, and financial risks weakened the economy.

How did the Depression change the federal government's role?

It increased expectations that the federal government should provide assistance, regulate finance, support workers, and promote economic security.

How should an APUSH SAQ be structured?

Answer the prompt directly, provide specific historical evidence, and explain how the evidence supports the claim.

Relief example

The CCC created jobs through conservation projects.

Recovery example

The AAA attempted to raise farm prices by reducing agricultural supply.

Reform example

The FDIC protected eligible bank deposits, while Social Security created retirement benefits and unemployment insurance.

New Deal criticism

Some critics argued that New Deal programs expanded federal power too much or interfered with business and constitutional limits.