Unit 5 review

Question 1

By the late 1920s, more people were investing in the stock market than ever before. Stock prices rose so fast that some people made fortunes almost overnight. Stories of ordinary people becoming rich drew others into the stock market. Such a period of increased stock trading and rising stock prices is known as …

Answer 1

a bull market

Question 2

19th Amendment and women’s suffrage

Answer 2

the Nineteenth Amendment, also changed American life, but in a very different way. Ratified in 1920, it gave women the right to vote. Women went to the polls nationwide for the first time in November 1920. Their votes helped elect Warren Harding President

Question 3

What did Carrie Chapman Catt do? What was the National Woman sufferage association

Answer 3

In 1920, Carrie Chapman Catt, head of the National Woman Suffrage Association, set up the League of Women Voters. The organization worked to educate voters, as it does today. It also worked to guarantee other rights, such as the right of women to serve on juries.

Question 4

What was the Equal Rights Amendement what happened to it? And who was Alice Paul

Answer 4

Alice Paul, who had been a leading suffragist, pointed out that women still lacked many legal rights. For example, many professional schools still barred women, and many states gave husbands legal control over their wives’ earnings. Paul called for a new constitutional amendment in 1923. Paul’s proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) stated that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Many people feared that the ERA went too far. Some argued that women would lose legal safeguards, such as laws that protected them in factories. Paul worked hard for the ERA until her death in 1977. The amendment passed in Congress but was never ratified by the states.

Question 5

Reasons for moving to suburbs and buying automobiles

Answer 5

• Lower prices sparked the auto boom. By 1924, the cost of a Model T had dropped from $850 to $290. As a result, an American did not have to be rich to buy a car. Car prices fell because factories became more efficient
• Cars shaped life in the city and in the country. Many city dwellers wanted to escape crowded conditions. They moved to nearby towns in the country, which soon grew into suburbs. A suburb is a community located outside a city. With cars, suburban families could drive to the city even though it was many miles away.They could also drive to stores, schools, or work. No longer did people have to live where they could walk or take a trolley to work.

Question 6

Factors involved in rise of mass culture

Answer 6

By making travel easier, cars helped Americans from different parts of the country learn more about one another. They played a role in creating a new national culture that crossed state lines.

New forms of entertainment also contributed to the rise of a mass culture. Mass culture is the set of values and practices that arise from watching the same movies, listening to the same music, and hearing the same news reports as others around the nation. In the 1920s, rising wages and labor-saving appliances gave families more money to spend and more leisure time in which to spend it.

Question 7

Scopes Trial

Answer 7

• Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin, a British scientist, had claimed that all life had evolved, or developed, from simpler forms over a long period of time.
  While biologists accepted Darwin’s theory, some churches condemned it, saying it contradicted the teachings of the Bible. Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas passed laws that banned the teaching of Darwin’s theory. In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher in Dayton, taught evolution to his class. Scopes was arrested and tried.
• Two of the nation’s best-known figures opposed each other in the Scopes trial. William Jennings Bryan, who had run for President three times, argued the state’s case against Scopes. Clarence Darrow, a Chicago lawyer who had helped unions and radicals, defended Scopes.
• As the trial began, the nation’s attention was riveted on Dayton. Reporters recorded every word of the battle between Darrow and Bryan. “Scopes isn’t on trial,” Darrow thundered at one point, “civilization is on trial.” In the end, Scopes was convicted and fined. The laws against teaching evolution were defeated, or overruled, in later years.
• The Scopes “monkey trial” brought the teaching of evolution in public schools to national attention in 1925. High-school teacher John T. Scopes (center) was convicted and fined for teaching evolution to his students in the state of Tennessee.

Question 8

Red Scare

Answer 8

During World War I, Americans had been on the alert for enemy spies and sabotage, or the secret destruction of property or interference with work in factories. These wartime worries led to a growing fear of foreigners.
The rise of communism in the Soviet Union fanned that fear. Lenin, the communist leader, called on workers everywhere to overthrow their governments. Many Americans saw the strikes that swept the nation as the start of a communist revolution.

Question 9

What is an anarchists

Answer 9

The actions of anarchists, or people who oppose organized government, added to the sense of danger.

Question 10

Sacco and Vanzetti Trial

Answer 10

• The trial of two Italian immigrants in Massachusetts came to symbolize the antiforeign feeling of the 1920s. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for robbery and murder in 1920. The two men admitted being anarchists but insisted they had committed no crime. A jury convicted them, however. Sacco and Vanzetti were then sentenced to death.
• The Sacco and Vanzetti trial created a furor across the nation. The evidence against the two men was limited. The judge was openly prejudiced against the two immigrants. Many Americans thought that Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted, not because they were guilty, but because they were immigrants and radicals. The two men waited in jail during a six-year fight to overturn their convictions. Their appeals were turned down. In 1927, they were executed.
• The issue of whether Sacco and Vanzetti received a fair trial has been debated ever since. In the meantime, some Americans felt the case proved that the United States had to keep out dangerous radicals.

Question 11

Nativism

Answer 11

Yet, hostility toward foreigners led to a new move to limit immigration. As you recall, this kind of antiforeign feeling is known as nativism.

Question 12

immigration fears

Answer 12

After the war, millions of Europeans hoped to find a better life in the United States. American workers feared that too many newcomers would force wages down. Others worried that communists and anarchists would flood in.

Question 13

What was the quota system why was it made and who does it favor

Answer 13

• Congress responded by passing the Emergency Quota Act in 1921. The act set up a quota system that allowed only a certain number of people from each country to enter the United States. Only 3 percent of the people in any national group already living in the United States in 1910 could be admitted.
• The quota system favored immigrants from northern Europe, especially Britain. In 1924, Congress passed new laws that further cut immigration, especially from eastern Europe, which was seen as a center of anarchism and communism. In addition, Japanese were added to the list of Asians denied entry to the country.

Question 14

Did the quota system affect Latin Americans and Canadians

Answer 14

Latin Americans and Canadians were not included in the quota system. As a result, Mexican immigrants continued to move to the United States. Farms and factories in the Southwest depended on Mexican workers. The pay was low, and the housing was poor. Still, immigrants were drawn by the chance to earn more money than they could at home. By 1930, a million or more Mexicans had crossed the border.
The Jones Act of 1917 granted American citizenship to Puerto Ricans. Poverty on the island led to a great migration to the north. In 1910, about 1,500 Puerto Ricans lived on the mainland. By 1930, there were about 53,000.

Question 15

Stock Market Crash

Answer 15

By August 1929, some investors worried that the boom might soon end. They began selling their stocks. In September, more people decided to sell. The rash of selling caused stock prices to fall. Hoover reassured investors that the “business of the country … is on a sound and prosperous basis.” Despite the President’s calming words, the selling continued and stock prices tumbled.
Many investors had bought stocks on margin. Buyers of stocks on margin pay only part of the cost of the stock when they make the purchase. They borrow the rest from their stockbrokers. With prices falling, brokers asked investors to pay back what they owed. Investors sold their stock to repay their loans.

Question 16

What is black tuesday

Answer 16

A panic quickly set in. Between October 24 and October 29, desperate people tried to unload millions of shares. As a result, stock prices dropped even further.

When the stock market opened on Tuesday, October 29, a wild stampede of selling hit the New York Stock Exchange. Prices plunged because there were no buyers. People who thought they owned valuable stocks were left with worthless paper.

Question 17

Securtiy act

Answer 17

In September 1935, Congress passed the Social Security Act. The new law had three parts. First, it set up a system of pensions for older people. Payments from employers and employees supported this system.

Second, the new act set up the nation’s first system of unemployment insurance. People who lost their jobs received small payments until they found work again. Third, the act gave states money to support dependent children and people with disabilities.

Question 18

Dust Bowl causes:

Answer 18

ears of overgrazing by cattle and plowing by farmers destroyed the grasses that once held the soil in place. The drought of the 1930s and high winds did the rest.

Question 19

Effects of the Dust Bowl

Answer 19

Hardest hit by the drought and dust storms were poor farmers in Oklahoma and other Great Plains states. Hundreds of these “Okies” packed their belongings into cars and trucks and headed west. They became migrant workers—people who move from one region to another in search of work. They hoped to find jobs in the orchards and farms of California, Oregon, or Washington.
Once they reached the West Coast, the migrants faced a new hardship—they were not wanted. Local citizens feared that the newcomers would take away their jobs. Sometimes, angry crowds blocked the highways and forced the migrants to go elsewhere. Those migrants who did find work were paid little.

Question 20

Similarites between Italy and Germany

Answer 20

In Italy and Germany, totalitarian leaders exerted complete control over the government and society. These dictators were fascists (FASH ists). Fascism was rooted in militarism, extreme nationalism, and blind loyalty to the state. Fascist dictators vowed to create new empires. While Communists drew much of their support from the working classes, fascists found allies among business leaders and landowners.

Question 21

Japanese aggression towards China in 1937

Answer 21

The military rulers set out to expand into Asia. In 1931, Japanese forces seized a region in northeastern China known as Manchuria. The region was rich in coal and iron, two resources scarce in Japan. The Japanese set up a state in Manchuria called Manchukuo.

China called on the League of Nations for help. The League condemned Japanese aggression but did little else. The United States refused to recognize Manchukuo but took no action.

Question 22

Good Neighbor Policy

Answer 22

Closer to home, the United States tried to improve relations with Latin American nations. In 1930, President Hoover rejected the Roosevelt Corollary. The United States, he declared, no longer claimed the right to intervene in Latin American affairs.
Concerned about the problems in Asia and Europe, Franklin Roosevelt worked to build friendlier relations with Latin America. Under his Good Neighbor Policy, FDR withdrew American troops from Nicaragua and Haiti. The policy also emphasized trade and cooperation. Roosevelt also canceled the Platt Amendment, which had limited the independence of Cuba.

Question 23

Japanese aggression towards China in 1937

Answer 23

In 1937, Japan began an all-out war against China. Japanese planes bombed China’s major cities. Thousands of people were killed. In the city of Nanjing alone, some 300,000 civilians and prisoners of war were murdered in a six-week massacre. Japanese troops defeated Chinese armies and occupied northern and central China.
The Japanese advance into China alarmed American leaders. They felt it undermined the Open Door Policy, which promised equal access to trade in China. It also threatened the Philippines, which the United States controlled. Nevertheless, isolationist feelings remained strong among the American people and kept the United States from taking a firm stand against the Japanese.

Question 24

German aggression in 1930s

Answer 24

• In Europe, Hitler continued his plans for German expansion. In 1938, just two years after occupying the Rhineland, Hitler annexed Austria. This action again violated the Treaty of Versailles. Once again, Britain and France took no action against Germany.
• Later that year, Hitler claimed the Sudetenland, the western part of Czechoslovakia. He justified his demand by claiming that the Sudetenland contained many people of German heritage.
• Britain and France had signed treaties to protect Czechoslovakia but were reluctant to go to war. The two nations sought a peaceful solution. In September 1938, the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany met in Munich, Germany.
  At the Munich Conference, Hitler promised that Germany would seek no further territory once it had acquired the Sudetenland. To preserve the peace, Britain and France agreed that Germany should have the Sudetenland. This practice of giving in to aggression in order to avoid war is known as appeasement.
• The policy of appeasement failed. Nazi Germany seized the rest of Czechoslovakia the very next year. At last, Britain and France realized that they had to take a firm stand against Nazi aggression.

Question 25

Nazi-Soviet Pact

Answer 25

Hitler next eyed Poland. In August 1939, he signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Stalin. The two rival dictators agreed not to attack each other. Secretly, they also agreed to divide Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.
In September 1939, Hitler launched a blitzkrieg, or lightning war, against Poland. This new tactic involved rushing concentrated forces with superior firepower into a specific area to scatter the enemy and penetrate deeply into enemy territory. Unable to withstand modern German planes and tanks, the Poles soon surrendered.

Question 26

Germany Attacks France and Britain

Answer 26

Two days after Hitler’s invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. A new world war had begun.

Question 27

Battle of Birtain

Answer 27

• Britain now stood alone. Even so, the new prime minister, Winston Churchill, was confident.
• Hitler’s plan to invade Britain, codenamed Operation Sea Lion, became a massive air battle. German planes dropped bombs on London and other British cities during the Battle of Britain. British fighter pilots fought back, gunning down nearly 2,000 German planes. By late 1940, after months of bombing, Hitler gave up his planned invasion of Britain.

Question 28

Double V campign

Answer 28

When the war began, African Americans rallied to their nation’s cause, as they had during World War I. This time, however, African Americans decided to pursue a “Double V” campaign—victory over the enemy abroad and victory over discrimination at home.

Question 29

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Answer 29

In the final version of the pact, they agreed upon two clauses: the first outlawed war as an instrument of national policy and the second called upon signatories to settle their disputes by peaceful means. On August 27, 1928, fifteen nations signed the pact at Paris.

Question 30

Battle of Midway

Answer 30

One month later, the United States Navy won a stunning victory at the Battle of Midway. American planes sank four Japanese aircraft carriers. The battle severely hampered the Japanese offensive. It also kept Japan from attacking Hawaii again.

Question 31

victory in Europe

Answer 31

By September, the Allies were moving east toward Germany. However, a shortage of truck fuel slowed the advance.

By April 1945, Germany was collapsing. American troops were closing in on Berlin from the west. Soviet troops were advancing from the east. On April 25, American and Soviet troops met at Torgau, 60 miles south of Berlin.
As Allied air raids pounded Berlin, Hitler hid in his underground bunker. Unwilling to accept defeat, he committed suicide. One week later, on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies. On May 8, the Allies celebrated the long-awaited V-E Day—Victory in Europe.

Question 32

Japan surrenders

Answer 32

On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The blast destroyed most of the city, killing at least 70,000 people and injuring an equal number. On August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki. About 40,000 residents died instantly. In both Nagasaki and Hiroshima, many more people later died from the effects of atomic radiation.
On August 14, 1945, the emperor of Japan announced that his nation would surrender. The formal surrender took place on September 2 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The warship flew the same American flag that had waved over Washington, D.C., on the day that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.

V-J (“Victory in Japan”) Day sparked wild celebrations across the United States.

Question 33

postdam Declaration

Answer 33

From Potsdam, the Allied leaders sent a message warning Japan to surrender or face “prompt and utter destruction.” Japanese leaders did not know about the destructive power of the atomic bomb. They ignored the Potsdam Declaration.