CONTEXT

Question 1

Eastern seaboard division

Answer 1

Build up of wealth on the Eastern seaboard, often introducing social concerns that mirror those of Europe

Question 2

What is the name of the lifestyle that American’s adopted during the economic boom? And define it

Answer 2

Hedonistic - no thought of consequences

TOM???

Question 3

Define ‘the melting pot’

Answer 3

Metaphor for a society where many different types of people blend together as one. America is often called a melting pot.

Question 4

Define ‘pioneer spirit’

Answer 4

A sense of adventure, exploration, and making their own way.

Question 5

Define ‘American Dream’

Answer 5

The ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.

Question 6

How many people between 1900 and 1915 immigrated to the US?

Answer 6

15 million immigrants

Equal to the number of immigrants who had arrived in the previous 40 years combined

Question 7

In 1910, what proportion of New York City’s population were immigrants?

Answer 7

Three-fourths

Question 8

Where were the immigrants mainly from?

Answer 8

• Eastern Europe
• Italy
• Poland
• Russia

They had difficulty adjusting to life

Question 9

Where did immigrants settle? Who struggled with the increase in population?

Answer 9

Most of the immigrants chose to settle in American cities, where jobs were located.

As a result, cities became even more crowded - city services struggled with the flow of people

Question 10

What jobs did immigrants / migrants take?

Answer 10

Jobs that native-born Americans would not take.

However, immigrants succeeded in bettering their condition.

Question 11

What happened to the numbers of immigration, after the depression of the 1890’s ?

Answer 11

Jumped from a low of 3.5 million, to a high of 9 million, within the first decade of the new century.

Question 12

What happened after 1914 to immigration in America?

Answer 12

Immigration dropped off because of the war, and later because of immigration restrictions imposed in the 1920’s.

Question 13

Why did immigrants escape their countries for America?

Answer 13

Escaping:

• Religion
• Racial
• Political persecution
• Seeking economic relief
• Famine

Question 14

Contract labor agreements

Answer 14

Many immigrants were pulled to America by contract labor agreements, offered by recruiting agents, known as ‘padrones’.

Question 15

What was ‘Ellis Island’ used for?

Answer 15

Immigrants entering the USA who could not afford first or second-class passage came through the processing center at Ellis Island, NYC

Question 16

When was ‘Ellis Island’ built?

Answer 16

1892

Question 17

How many immigrants did ‘Ellis Island’ handle?

Answer 17

12 million European immigrants

Question 18

Conditions of ‘Ellis Island’

Answer 18

Described as a ‘barn-like’ structure

Question 19

What questions did government inspectors ask immigrants on ‘Ellis Island’?

Answer 19

• ‘Have you money, relatives or a job in the US?’
• ‘Are you a polygamist? An anarchist?’

Then the doctors prodded them, looking for signs of disease or disabilities.

Question 20

How long were immigrants detained for at ‘Ellis Island’?

Answer 20

3-4 hours

Question 21

What would happen if immigrants didn’t receive the stamp of approval into the United States? (‘Ellis Island’)

Answer 21

Sent back to their place of origin at the expense of the shipping line

Question 21

What would happen to ‘newcomers’ that arrived without a family? (to the USA)

Answer 21

Some solace could be found in the ethic neighborhoods populated by their fellow countrymen

Here, they form a community, where they can speak the same language and abide by the same religion

Question 22

Conditions in 1920’s America

Answer 22

• Most industries offered hazardous conditions and very low wages, lowered further after the padrone took out its share
• Urban housing was overcrowded and unsanitary

Question 23

Quote from an Old Italian

Answer 23

‘I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. When I got here, found out three things: First, the streets weren’t paved with gold; second, they weren’t paved at all: and third, I was expected to pave them’

Question 24

Define ‘okies’

Answer 24

Derogatory term for migrants entering another state for work.

Originated from Oaklahoma migrants, hence the name

Question 25

Prohabition dates

Answer 25

1920-1933

Question 26

!!!

What did Prohabition cause?

Answer 26

On January 15th 1919, Congress ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks

It fuelled the rapid growth of organized crime networks engaged in bootlegging (the making and selling and selling of illegal alcoholic drinks) and fostered the emergence of wealthy and powerful gangsters who, like Gatsby, were also active in other criminal fields, such as gambling and bond fraud, and aspired to social status.

Question 27

What is ‘The National Origins Act of 1924’ ?

Answer 27

Laid down a quota system based on 2 per cent of the numbers of each nationality in the USA

or… limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota

Question 28

National economic boom figures

Answer 28

The total of national wealth rose from about $187 million in 1912 to $450 million in 1929.

Question 29

Women’s voting

Answer 29

The Nineteenth Amendment of 1920 gave women the right to vote for the first time.

Question 30

When were the “Roaring 20’s”?

Answer 30

1918 to the Stock Market Crash of 1929

Question 31

what was the Jazz Age the era of?

Answer 31

the era of reckless spending and conspicuous consumption

status symbol

Question 32

Wall Street Crash

Answer 32

Oct 1929, stock market crashed leading to the great depression and ends the lavish culture of the 1920s

Question 33

Word for newly rich

Answer 33

‘nouveau riche’

Question 34

When did the ‘Great Depression’ start and end?

Answer 34

1929–1939

Question 35

What are the 1930’s often described as?

Answer 35

The ‘dirty thirties’