T1 02-08 US starter

Question 1

Who was the first Democrat president of the time period 1913-1961?

Answer 1

Wilson

Question 2

Between which years was Woodrow Wilson President of the USA

Answer 2

1913-1921

Question 3

Contextually what was the significance of Wilson’s presidential terms?

Answer 3

He was President during the First World War.

Question 4

What was unusual about Harding’s term in office?

Answer 4

It was not a full term.

Question 5

What can you infer from Harding’s short term?

Answer 5

He died in office? He did, he suffered a heart attack and died

Question 6

Who was the last president of the period 1913-1961?

Answer 6

Dwight D Eisenhowe

Question 7

What process has begun during the 19th century that helped fuel the economic boom of the 1920s?

Answer 7

Mass production

Question 8

How did the USA emerge from WW1?

Answer 8

Powerful, they had bank rolled Britain and were economically stronger

Question 9

What was the assembly line?

Answer 9

A method of production using a moving conveyor belt. A product is gradually built as it moves along the line. Each person working on the assembly line completes one step of the production.

Question 10

By 1924, how effective had Ford’s assembly line been?

Answer 10

10 million Model Ts had been built at Highland Park

Question 11

How did the automobile industry help other industries to grow?

Answer 11

-Other factories copied the assembly line method, such as consumer goods like vacuum cleaners
-Industries hugely benefited cars used 90% of America’s petrol, 80% of the country’s rubber and 75% of its glass

Question 12

Which political party were in power during the 1920s?

Answer 12

The Republicans

Question 13

What were the names of the Presidents and when were they in office?

Answer 13

Harding 1921-1923
Coolidge 1923-1929
Hoover 1929-1933

Question 14

What was the approach of the government towards the economy?

Answer 14

Laissez Faire

Question 15

What effect did lack of regulation have?

Answer 15

Increased industrial expansion creating job opportunities. More jobs = more wage earners = more consumption = more expansion etc.
Business malpractice and exploitation.

Question 16

What did Andrew Mellon introduce throughout the 1920s?

Answer 16

Tax cuts!

Question 17

What was was Coolidge’s attitude to European war debt?

Answer 17

That it should be repaid. In full.

Question 18

What was the Fordney-McCumber tariff?

Answer 18

A law that raised import duties on foreign goods (38.5%)

Question 19

What approaches did the Republican government take towards the economy? (detailed)

Answer 19

Laissez-faire meant very little government involvement in policy. The free market was allowed to operate with minimal restrictions.

The belief in self help and individualism meant that people should create wealth for themselves, and that in a successful economy wealth would naturally trickle down.

Isolationism meant that the government tried to protect American industry, and did not want to get involved in issues abroad

Question 20

What did the Fordney-McCumber Act 1922 do?

What did this mean for the market? (detailed)

Answer 20

It raised tariffs (tax) on imported goods meaning foreign goods were much more expensive to buy than domestic (American) goods. This meant American industry sold more of their goods.
Tariffs were on average 38.5% on dutiable products.
It had a negative effect on farmers who relied on foreign markets to export their surplus goods, and purchased their machinery from abroad.
5 years after the tariff was introduced, European countries began to retaliate

Question 21

What did the reduction in regulations mean for business activity? (detailed)

Answer 21

Companies would fix prices to prevent fair competition
Workers could be easily exploited.
In the Southern textile mills, child labour was common, as was a 56 hour working weeks. Wages rarely rose above 18cents an hour.

Question 22

What % of Americans lived below the poverty line?

Answer 22

60

Question 23

What happened to the wages of workers in the construction industry?

Answer 23

They rose by 4% in the 1920s

Question 24

How were most Americans paying for their goods?

Answer 24

They used cheap credit though Hire Purchase schemes.

Question 25

How did prohibition impact farmers?

Answer 25

It reduced the demand for grain

Question 26

What did the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923 do?

Answer 26

Offered cheap loans to farmers who agreed to join co-operatives.

Question 27

Why did the Fordney McCumber Act negatively influence farmers?

Answer 27

Foreign powers retaliated and refused to buy American goods, leading to overproduction.

Question 28

When was slavery abolished in the USA?

Answer 28

1865 - 13th Amendment

Question 29

Name 3 US cities African Americans moved to during the Great Migration.

Answer 29

Detroit, New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia etc.

Question 30

What was the Teapot Dome scandal?

Answer 30

A bribery and corruption scandal in which a member of Warren Harding’s inner circle, Albert Fall, took bribes and loans to give gas leases on naval reserves to speculators without a competitive bidding process.

Question 31

What is a Trade Union?

Answer 31

An organisation of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment i.e better wages, working conditions etc.

Question 32

How many women were working as domestic servants in the 1920s?

Answer 32

700,000

Question 33

How was wealth distributed geographically across the USA?

Answer 33

Wages in the North Eastern Industrial cities: average $921 a month
Wages in rural South: average $361 a month
Wages in South Carolina: average $129 a month

Question 34

What % of families lived on less than $2,000 a year?

Answer 34

60%

Question 35

What was the Agricultural Credits Act 1923? What did it aim to do?

Answer 35

Small scale farmers were going bankrupt.
The Act funded 12 Credit banks to fund cooperatives - with the idea that small farms would join together.
However, this was a loan - which small scale farmers could not pay back - so big farms benefitted instead.

Question 36

What were the yellow dog contracts / clauses?

Answer 36

Clauses in an employees contract which forbade them from joining a trade union.

Question 37

What was the role of sharecroppers?

Answer 37

• Farmers allow tenant farmers to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop.
• Many black American families after the Civil War (1860s) did not have enough wealth to own their own farms, so many became sharecroppers working on the farms of white farmers.
• Many were living close to subsistence during the 1920s.

Question 38

How was wealth distributed geographically across the USA?

Answer 38

Wages in the North Eastern Industrial cities: average $921 a month
Wages in rural South: average $361 a month
Wages in South Carolina: average $129 a month

Question 39

What % of families lived on less than $2,000 a year?

Answer 39

60%

Question 40

What was the Agricultural Credits Act 1923? What did it aim to do?

Answer 40

Small scale farmers were going bankrupt.
The Act funded 12 Credit banks to fund cooperatives - with the idea that small farms would join together.
However, this was a loan - which small scale farmers could not pay back - so big farms benefitted instead.

Question 41

What were the yellow dog contracts / clauses?

Answer 41

Clauses in an employees contract which forbade them from joining a trade union.

Question 42

What was the role of sharecroppers?

Answer 42

• Farmers allow tenant farmers to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop.
• Many black American families after the Civil War (1860s) did not have enough wealth to own their own farms, so many became sharecroppers working on the farms of white farmers.
• Many were living close to subsistence during the 1920s.