The Roaring Twenties - USA Flashcards
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties, especially within the United States and other Western countries was the decade that was characterized by economic prosperity, rapid social and cultural change and a mood of exuberant optimism.
It was a decade of profound change and contradiction to American society after the events of the first World War. The era saw the significant shifts in social norms along with the rise in economic prosperity and technological advancements.
The 18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment enacted in 1920 prohibited the manufacture and sale of Alcohol in the United States.
The enactment of the 18th amendment caused unintended consequences such as a rise in bootleggers and speakeasies which led to an increase in organized criminal activities.
The 19th Amendment
The ratification of the 19th Amendment meant that women gained the right to vote expanding their political influence and rights within the total population of the United States.
Scopes “Monkey” Trial
A 1925 legal case which highlighted the debate between evolution and creationism or fundamentalism.
Immigration Restrictions
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924 significantly limited immigration in the United States.
What happened to America after the First World War.
After the events of the First World War is opened the U.S with increased opportunities such as taking advantage of the worn out countries unable to trade influenced Americans to emerge from the war strong and take on economic advances.
Significance of Electricity
There would be a widespread availability of electricity within homes be it for fridges, lights, vacuum cleaners or washing machines.
Electricity also meant that Americans had an industry that produced a clean, cheap and efficient power source.
Significance of Mass Production
Mass production would soon enter the manufacturing industry by adapting line production techniques of a Chicago slaughterhouse.
This idea would be innovated by Henry Ford known as the assembly line for the production of cars and would also be adapted for the production of lighters and radios. This widespread adaption of the assembly line lead to a significant reduction in production costs.
Significance of the Motor industry
The motor would be the centerpiece of America’s economic success. By 1929, one in five Americans owned a car compared to one in forty-three in Britain.
The car industry also employed up to half a million workers, stimulated road and hotel construction, the building of roadside gas stations and the development of suburbs and holiday resorts.
Impact of Government policies
The Republican governments of the 1920s followed financial policies that were considered favourable to businesses: low taxation, high tariffs and an absence of regulation or government intervention, also known as Laissez-Faire.
Presidents during the Roaring Twenties
- Warren Harding
- Calvin Coolidge
- Herbert Hoover
Who was Henry Ford?
Henry Ford’s use of the assembly line techniques revolutionized the automobile industry contributing to the production of his cars across the globe.
Ford’s rapidly growing business meant that by 1930, one-third of the world’s cars were Fords. It also eventually became the main influence in early aircraft production. By the Second World War, Ford’s company willow run plant produced B-52 bombers.
African-American experience in the 1920s
Until the end of the First World War the population of African-Americans was concentrated in the southern states of Texas and Louisiana where they continued to work as Labourers or sharecroppers.
Due to the Agricultural slump of the 1920s, approximately 750 000 of these black workers were laid off by their white landlords, while those who remained experienced poverty and extreme forms of racial discrimination.
Native-American experience in the 1920s
During the nineteenth century, Native-Americans had been gradually forced off their land and by the 1920s were living in reservations specially provided for them by the government.
These reservations were area located with poor soil making it difficult to grow crops. Those who lived on these reservations suffered from poor education, ill health and poverty.
While those who left to mix with the white society were met with discrimination and prejudice only finding lowly paid job opportunities.
Immigrant experience in the 1920s.
Immigrants mainly arrived from various parts of Europe with the earliest immigrants coming from Northern Europe and Scandinavia, together with their descendants began to resent later waves of immigration from Southern Europe and Russia.
While newer immigrants such as African-Americans suffered from discrimination, lack of education, driven down wages along with high rates of unemployment among the overall immigrant population in the 1920s.
