US History Exam

What is buying on Margin?

buying a stock by paying only a fraction of the stock price and borrowing the rest

What is Margin Call?

demand by a broker that investors pay back loans made for stocks purchased on margin

What is the Impact of the Stock Market Crash and the Weakened Banks?

it undermined the economy’s ability to overcome other weaknesses and revealed problems with the nation’s banks

What is the Causes of and Impacts of Bank Closures

banks had lent billions to stock speculators. Second, many banks had invested depositors’ money in the stock market, hoping for high returns. When stock values collapsed, banks lost money on their investments, and speculators defaulted on their loans.

What is a Bank Run?

persistent and heavy demands by a bank’s depositors, creditors, or customers to withdraw money

What is a Installment plan

a monthly plan made to pay off the cost of an item when buying it on credit

What was the peak US Unemployment percentage during the Great Depression?

Over 25%

What is a Hooverville?

newly homeless people put up Shacks on unused public lands. They built shantytowns, which they called ___ after the president they blamed for their plight

What is a Hobo?

In search of work or a better life, many homeless unemployed Americans began walking, hitchhiking, or most often, riding the rails across the country.

What is the Mexican Repatriation?

in the Southwest, Federal officials rounded up Mexicans often without regard to their citizenship status and  forcibly returned them to Mexico. Between 500000 and 2 million people of Mexican heritage, in 2005 the California state legislature issued an apology

What are the Dust Bowl Causes

Over Plowing, Drought, and Wind

What is the Impact of The Dust Bowl on California?

many families headed west, hoping for a better life in California. However, in California, their struggles continued. Many immigrants called Okies,  because many were from Oklahoma, were turned away at California's order. Those who did make it settled in Hoovervilles and competed with each other for too few jobs. 

What did Movies do during the Great Depression?

During the 1930s more than 60 million Americans went to the movies each week. Walt Disney produce the first feature-length  animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. in 1939 MGM produced The Wizard of Oz. In the same year, Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable thrilled audiences in Gone With the Wind, a Civil War at makes that one nine Academy Awards.

What did Radios do during the Great Depression?

radio offered both information and entertainment. Tens of millions listened to the radio daily. Medians such as Jack Benny were popular, as were the adventures of super heroes such as the Green Hornet. Daytime dramas continued their story lines from day-to-day one such program was The Guiding Light, presented struggles of middle-class families. Often sponsored by makers of laundry soaps, these dramas were called soap operas.

What are the Grapes of Wrath? Who created it?

John Steinbeck. Steinbeck focused on the rural poor, particularly agricultural workers and farmers, and created a sense of realism with Rich, detailed description.   in The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck describes the experiences of the Joad family who headed to California after losing their Farm in the Dust Bowl

What is the Role of Photography During the Great Depression?

showed how the Great Depression affected average Americans. Lane photographs homeless people in San Francisco and for migrant agricultural workers in California's Central Valley. Her most famous photo, migrant mother, depicts a sad weary woman with seven children.

What is Hoover’s Philosophy of Government & Spending

Believed that American “rugged individualism” would keep the economy moving, and that the government should not step in to help individuals

What is the Reconstruction Finance Corporation?

In 1932, Hoover requested Congress to set it up to make loans to businesses. It was overly cautious and failed to increase its lending sufficiently.

What is the Bonus Army?

several hundred Oregon veterans began marching to Washington, D.C., to lobby for passage of the legislation. As they moved eastward, other veterans joined them until they numbered about 1,000. Wearing ragged military uniforms, they trudged along the highways or rode the rails, singing old war songs.

What is a Bank Holiday?

In 38 states Governors declared that it would be closing the remaining banks before bank runs could put them out of business. It closed the nation's banks from March 6th to March 13th.

What is the Security Act of 1933?

required companies that sold stocks and bonds to provide complete and truthful info to investors

What is the SEC?

created to regulate the stock market and stop fraud

What is the Glass-Steagall Act?

banks could no longer risk depositors money through stock speculation

What is the FDIC?

created to provide government insurance for bank deposits and increased confidence in the banking system

What is the NRA?

to suspend antitrust laws and allowed business, labor, and government to cooperate with rules for each industry. Codes set prices, established minimum wages, shortened workers’ hours to create more jobs, permitted unionization, and helped businesses develop industry-wide rules of fair competition.

What is the CCC?

The most highly praised New Deal work relief program was the Civilian Conservation Corps. Offered unemployed young men, 18 to 25 years old, the opportunity to work under the direction of the forestry service planting trees, fighting forest fires, and building reservoirs.

What is the PWA?

 One-third of the nation's unemployed were in the construction industry. The PWA began building highways, dams, schools, and other government facilities. Also insisted that contractors not discriminate against African-Americans.

What is a CWA?

When the FERA and PWA did not significantly reduce unemployment, President Roosevelt authorized the creation of the Civil Works Administration.  The CWA hired workers directly and employed four million people, including 300,000 women.

What were Roosevelt’s relief programs?

The CCC, PWA, and CWA.

What is the ND Criticism: Increased Government Spending?

Many business leaders became alarmed at the growing deficit. Increased government spending was one of the main criticisms

What is the WPA?

the New Deal's largest public-works program. Between 1935 and 1941, the WPA employed 8.5 million workers and spent 11 billion dollars to construct about 650,000 miles of roadways, 125,000 public buildings, 853 airports, more than 124,000 bridges, and more than 8,000 parks.

What is the National Labor Relations Board?

organized factory elections by secret ballot to determine whether workers wanted a union

What is the Wagner Act?

guaranteed workers the right to unionize and bargain collectively; led to a burst of labor activity

What is the Court Packing Scheme?

a major political mistake. Even though the court backed down, his court-packing plan hurt the president's reputation and caused conservative Democrats to join Republicans to block further New Deal efforts.

What is the Impact of the New Deal?

fundamentally changed the relationship between the American people and the federal government. The power of the federal government to intervene in the economy significantly increased. At the same time the historical role of state governments and their relationship to the federal government began to shift as well. Increasingly, the federal government took on a regulatory role that had previously been left to the state governments.

Enlightenment Ideas

Beliefs from the 1700s that focused on reason, individual rights, and government by the people (e.g., democracy, freedom, equality).

Impact of French and Indian War

Britain won the war (1754-1763) but got into debt, leading to higher taxes on American colonists, which caused tension.

British Taxes

After the war, Britain taxed the colonies (e.g., Stamp Act, Tea Act) to pay off debt, angering colonists and leading to protests.

Declaration of Independence

A 1776 document where American colonists officially broke away from Britain, stating that all people have rights like life, liberty, and happiness.

John Locke

An Enlightenment thinker who believed in natural rights (life, liberty, property) and that people could overthrow bad governments—ideas that influenced the Declaration of Independence.

United States Constitution (Preamble)

The introduction to the U.S. Constitution, starting with “We the People,” explaining the purpose of the government

Great Compromise

A deal during the Constitutional Convention (1787) that created two houses of Congress: Senate is equal votes for all states, House of Rep is based on population

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution that protect individual freedoms, like free speech, religion, and fair trials

South Secedes

When Southern states left the U.S. (starting with South Carolina in 1860) to form the Confederacy, leading to the Civil War

Emancipation Proclamation

A 1863 order by Abraham Lincoln that freed enslaved people in Confederate states during the Civil War.

14th Amendment

A law that gave citizenship to all people born in the U.S. (including formerly enslaved people) and guaranteed equal rights under the law

Andrew Carnegie

A wealthy businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune in the steel industry.

Entrepreneurs

People who start and run their own businesses

Nativism

The belief that native-born citizens are superior to immigrants and should be favored.

Social Gospel

A movement that applied Christian values to social problems like poverty and inequality.

Americanization

The process of immigrants adopting American customs and culture.

Political Machines

Powerful organizations that controlled local government, often using corruption.

Populist Party

A political party in the late 1800s that represented farmers and workers against big business.

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corruption and social injustices.

Triangle Shirtwaist Company

A factory where a tragic fire in 1911 killed many workers, leading to labor reforms.

Upton Sinclair

A writer who exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry in his book The Jungle.

19th Amendment

The law passed in 1920 that gave women the right to vote.

Open Door Policy

A U.S. policy that promoted equal trade opportunities in China for all nations.

Reasons for Imperialism

Economic gain, military power, cultural superiority, and global influence.

Annexation of the Philippines

The U.S. took control of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War, leading to resistance from Filipinos.

Panamanian Revolution

A U.S.-supported uprising that led to Panama’s independence from Colombia and allowed the U.S. to build the Panama Canal.

Roosevelt Foreign Policy

Known as the "Big Stick" policy, it emphasized military strength and intervention, especially in Latin America.

Taft Foreign Policy

Called "Dollar Diplomacy," it focused on using economic investment to expand U.S. influence abroad.

Neutrality

A policy of staying out of conflicts or wars between other countries.

Liberty Bonds

Government-issued bonds sold to American citizens to help finance World War I.

Espionage Act

A 1917 law that punished people for spying or interfering with U.S. war efforts

War Industries Board

A government agency that coordinated production and supplies for the U.S. military during World War I

Warren G. Harding

The 29th U.S. president (1921–1923) known for his "Return to Normalcy" policy and scandals like Teapot Dome.

Teapot Dome

A major political scandal involving government officials illegally leasing oil reserves in exchange for bribes.

Scopes Monkey Trial

A 1925 trial in which a teacher, John Scopes, was prosecuted for teaching evolution in Tennessee, highlighting the conflict between science and religion.

Volstead Act

The law that enforced Prohibition, banning alcohol in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933.

Bootleggers

People who illegally made, transported, or sold alcohol during Prohibition.

Marcus Garvey

A leader who promoted Black pride, economic independence, and the "Back to Africa" movement.

Great Migration

The movement of millions of African Americans from the South to Northern cities for better jobs and opportunities in the early 20th century.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural movement in the 1920s celebrating African American art, music, and literature, centered in Harlem, New York.

Langston Hughes

A famous poet and writer of the Harlem Renaissance known for works about Black life and culture

Harlem Renaissance Writers

Authors such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Claude McKay, who wrote about African American experiences and identity.