APUSH Semester 2 Midterm

Stocks

Ownership shares in a company that rise or fall in value depending on the company’s performance and investor demand.

Stock Market

A system where stocks are bought and sold

Wall Street

The financial district in New York City where major U.S. stock trading occurs.

Buying on Margin

A risky 1920s practice where investors bought stocks using borrowed money and only paid a small percentage upfront.

Speculation

The practice of buying stocks hoping to quickly sell them for profit rather than long-term investment.

Consumer Lending

The practice of banks and businesses lending money to consumers so they can buy goods immediately.

Installment Plan

A system where consumers buy goods and pay for them over time in scheduled payments.

Credit Expansion

The increase in borrowing and debt during the 1920s that boosted consumer spending but increased risk in the economy.

Economic Boom (1920s)

A period of rapid economic growth in the United States driven by industry

Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922)

A protective tariff that raised taxes on imports to protect American industries but reduced global trade.

Tariff

A tax placed on imported goods to protect domestic businesses by making foreign goods more expensive.

Trade Barrier

Restrictions like tariffs that limit international trade between countries.

World War I Debt

Money owed to the United States by European countries after World War I.

Creditor Nation

A country that lends more money than it borrows; the U.S. became one after World War I.

Banking System (1920s)

A weakly regulated system with no federal insurance for deposits

Bank Failure

When a bank closes because it cannot pay back depositors or cover losses.

Overproduction (Agriculture)

When farmers produce more crops than can be sold

Agricultural Crisis (1920s)

The long-term decline in farm income due to low crop prices and overproduction.

Mellon Tax Plan

A policy that lowered taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations to encourage investment.

Warren G. Harding

A U.S. president who supported pro-business policies and a “return to normalcy” after World War I.

Return to Normalcy

Harding’s policy goal of restoring the economy and avoiding international political involvement.

Calvin Coolidge

A president who believed in limited government and supported business growth with minimal regulation.

Laissez-Faire Economics

An economic philosophy that the government should not interfere in business or markets.

Supply-Side Economics (Trickle Down)

The idea that tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy will eventually benefit everyone.

Teapot Dome Scandal

A major corruption scandal during Harding’s administration involving illegal oil lease deals and bribery.

Henry Ford

Industrial leader who revolutionized automobile production using mass production techniques.

Assembly Line

A manufacturing system where workers complete small repetitive tasks as products move along a conveyor belt.

Mass Production

The production of large quantities of goods efficiently using standardized processes.

Installment Credit Culture

A consumer system where Americans increasingly relied on credit to purchase goods.

Guglielmo Marconi

Inventor who developed early long-distance radio communication technology.

Edwin Armstrong

Engineer who improved radio transmission quality through feedback circuit technology.

Vacuum Tube

An early electronic device that amplified signals in radios and made broadcast communication possible.

NAACP

An organization founded to fight racial discrimination and promote civil rights for African Americans.

Silent March (1917)

A peaceful protest organized by the NAACP in New York City against lynching and racial violence.

Marcus Garvey

A Black nationalist leader who promoted racial pride and the “Back to Africa” movement.

UNIA

Garvey’s organization that promoted Black economic independence and global unity.

Ku Klux Klan (1920s)

A white supremacist group that targeted African Americans

100% Americanism

The belief that “real Americans” were native-born

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

A controversial case where two Italian immigrants were convicted amid accusations of anarchism and bias during the Red Scare.

Red Scare (1920s)

A period of fear in the U.S. about communism and radical political movements after World War I.

A. Mitchell Palmer

U.S. Attorney General who led raids against suspected radicals during the Red Scare.

Immigration Act of 1924

A law that limited immigration and favored Northern and Western Europeans.

WCTU

A reform organization that pushed for prohibition of alcohol.

Frances Willard

A leader in the temperance movement and advocate for alcohol prohibition.

Eighteenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment that banned the production and sale of alcohol.

Nineteenth Amendment

The amendment that granted women the right to vote in 1920.

Volstead Act

Law that enforced Prohibition under the Eighteenth Amendment.

Speakeasies

Illegal bars that operated during Prohibition.

Al Capone

Notorious Chicago gangster involved in illegal alcohol trade during Prohibition.

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

A 1929 gang-related killing in Chicago linked to Prohibition-era crime.

Enoch “Nucky” Johnson

Political boss who profited from illegal gambling and alcohol during Prohibition.

Flappers

Young women in the 1920s who challenged traditional gender norms through fashion and behavior.

Lost Generation

Writers who were disillusioned by World War I and criticized modern American society.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural movement celebrating Black art

Langston Hughes

A major Harlem Renaissance poet who wrote about Black identity and experience.

Zora Neale Hurston

Writer and anthropologist who documented African American culture during the Harlem Renaissance.

Jazz Age

The 1920s era characterized by jazz music

Gramophones

Early sound devices used to play recorded music.

Lumière Brothers

Early film pioneers who helped develop motion picture technology.

Adolph Zukor

Film industry pioneer who helped build Hollywood’s studio system.

Birth of a Nation (1915)

A controversial silent film that promoted racist ideas and glorified the Ku Klux Klan.

The Kid (1921)

A silent film starring Charlie Chaplin that became a major early Hollywood success.

Vaudeville

A form of live entertainment featuring comedy

Talkies

Films with synchronized sound that replaced silent movies in the late 1920s.

Herbert Hoover

U.S. president (1929–1933) who supported limited government and believed the economy should recover with minimal federal intervention.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

A New Deal agency that provided direct federal aid to unemployed and poor Americans during the Great Depression.

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns built by homeless Americans during the Great Depression

Farmers’ Holiday Association

Group of farmers who protested falling crop prices by refusing to sell crops to raise agricultural prices.

Dust Bowl

Severe drought and dust storms in the Great Plains that destroyed farmland and forced mass migration in the 1930s.

Bonus Expeditionary Force (Bonus Army)

World War I veterans who marched on Washington in 1932 demanding early payment of military bonuses.

Douglas MacArthur and George Patton

U.S. Army leaders who used force to remove Bonus Army protesters from Washington

Stock Market Crash of 1929

Collapse of stock prices in October–November 1929 that triggered the Great Depression.

Black Tuesday

October 29

Buying on Margin Crash Effect

When investors who borrowed money to buy stocks lost everything when stock prices collapsed.

Great Depression

A worldwide economic crisis beginning in 1929 marked by unemployment

Bank Failure Crisis

Mass collapse of banks due to unpaid loans and lack of federal insurance in the early 1930s.

Loss of Savings

Millions of Americans lost life savings when banks closed during the Depression.

Unemployment Crisis (1932)

Nearly one-third of Americans were unemployed at the height of the Great Depression.

Consumer Collapse

Drop in spending that worsened economic decline as people stopped buying goods.

Economic Spiral

Chain reaction where job losses reduce spending

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

A 1930 tariff that raised import taxes and worsened the Depression by reducing global trade.

Retaliatory Tariffs

Foreign countries’ response to U.S. tariffs by raising their own taxes on American goods.

Industrial Decline

Sharp drop in U.S. manufacturing output after the 1929 crash.

Agricultural Collapse

Plummeting farm prices caused by overproduction and reduced demand during the Depression.

Foreclosure

When banks or lenders take property from people who cannot repay loans.

Breadlines

Long queues of unemployed Americans waiting for free food during the Depression.

Charity Overload

Private aid organizations became overwhelmed by widespread poverty.

State Relief Failure

State governments lacked resources to handle the scale of Depression-era poverty.

Federal Deposit Insurance Idea

Proposed protection for bank deposits that later became FDIC under the New Deal.

Stock Market Speculation Culture

1920s trend of risky investing focused on quick profit rather than stability.

Installment Debt Crisis

Consumers unable to repay installment loans due to unemployment and falling income.

Credit Overextension

Excessive borrowing by consumers and banks that made the economy unstable.

Wall Street Collapse

General breakdown of investor confidence and stock value after 1929.

Economic Recovery Failure (Hoover Era)

Hoover’s limited response was unable to stop worsening economic conditions.

Public Confidence Collapse

Loss of trust in banks

Laissez-faire economics

An economic belief that government should not interfere in business or the economy.

Classical liberalism (19th century)

Economic idea supporting free markets

Modern liberalism (New Deal era)

Belief that government should actively regulate the economy and provide social welfare.