US knowledge test

Question 1

How did the USA emerge from WW1?

Answer 1

The USA had lent the old empire powers, like Britain, money which they now had to repay

Question 2

What happened to the production of industrial goods during the 1920s?

Answer 2

Production of industrial goods rose by 50% between 1922 and 1929

Question 3

What was the assembly line and who pioneered its use?

Answer 3

Henry Ford pioneered the use of this method of production using a moving conveyor belt. A product is gradually built as it moves to each unskilled person working on the assembly line who completes one step of the production.

Question 4

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

Answer 4

10 million Model Ts had been built at Highland Park

Question 5

What impact did technological advances have on leisure?

Answer 5

Between 1923 and 1930, 60% of American families purchased radios

Question 6

By 1929 how much had been bought on credit?

Answer 6

Almost $7 billion worth of goods were sold using credit

Question 7

Who was the Republican President between the years 1923 and 1929?

Answer 7

Calvin Coolidge

Question 8

Which statement best describes the approach of the Republican Government during the 1920s?

Answer 8

The government of the 1920s took a laissez faire approach, choosing to let the economy grow freely with very little intervention and regulation. The legislation they did introduce was motivated by protecting the US economy above all others, and reinforcing the culture of self-help and individualism in the American people.

Question 9

Which was a negative effect of the Fordney McCumber Tariff of 1922?

Answer 9

Costs increased for Farmers, who relied on foreign markets to export their surplus, and purchased their machinery from abroad.

Question 10

What is a cartel?

Answer 10

When a group of different producers work together to fix prices or limit supplies so that they make the most profit.

Question 11

What is a holding company?

Answer 11

When a company is so big that it ends up controlling other companies, giving it the power to fix prices and make big profits.

Question 12

How was wealth distributed across the USA?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Which of the below was NOT a reason why there was a drop in demand for agricultural products?

Answer 13

Mechanisation meant that more crops could be produced on fewer acres, 13 million acres were taken out of production during the 1920s.

Question 14

What % of farmers operated at a loss?

Answer 14

66%

Question 15

What was the Agricultural Credits Act 1923?

Answer 15

The Act funded 12 Credit banks to lend to cooperatives - with the idea that small farms would join together.

Question 16

How many women were in high paid skilled careers in the 1920s?

Answer 16

150 dentists and less than 100 accountants

Question 17

What was the great northern migration?

Answer 17

Just under 1 million black Americans moved to northern industrial cities to escape the Jim Crow South and find better opportunities

Question 18

What is the best definition of yellow dog clauses?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

To elucidate the culture of borrowing and credit…

Answer 19

By 1929, almost $7 bn worth of consumer goods had been bought on credit

Question 20

What were the consequences of the drop in demand for agricultural products?

Answer 20

Overproduction

Question 21

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

Answer 21

The Act funded twelve 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 did not take out the loan.

Question 22

What was the reality of northern migration?

Answer 22

• Better paid jobs and less discrimination in urban areas, even if jobs were menial
• Ghettoisation, many black Americans ended up living in poor and overcrowded conditions

Question 23

What traditional industries did not share in economic prosperity?

Answer 23

• The coal industry
• Ship building

Question 24

By how much did union membership fall by during the 1920s?

Answer 24

Union membership fell from 5 million to 3.4 million in the 1920s

Question 25

What were the estimated unemployment rates by 1932?

Answer 25

25%

Question 26

How many banks closed between 1929 and 1932?

Answer 26

10,000

Question 27

How did the national wage bill compare in 1932 to 1929?

Answer 27

60% less

Question 28

What was GDP in 1929?

Answer 28

$104 billion

Question 29

What was GDP in 1932?

Answer 29

$54 billion

Question 30

What were car sales in 1932 compared to 1929?

Answer 30

1932: 1.1 million, 1929: 4.5 million

Question 31

By how much did the national suicide rate increase between 1929 and 1932?

Answer 31

30%

Question 32

By 1931, how many one parent families were in receipt of aid?

Answer 32

Less than 20,000

Question 33

Which is an example of an industry that did well during the 1930s?

Answer 33

Aviation

Question 34

The number of newly built residential units fell by how much 1929 - 32?

Answer 34

82%

Question 35

Why did the dustbowl exacerbate the effects of the Great Depression?

Answer 35

The dustbowl hit the American prairies, large agricultural plains where farmers were already struggling to stay afloat before 1929.

Question 36

How did the Great Depression exacerbate the situation for many African Americans?

Answer 36

During the 1920s 3/4 million sharecroppers had already lost their jobs, as more farms were foreclosed, more and more African Americans lost their agricultural jobs.

Question 37

Give one example of how the Depression affected women’s employment.

Answer 37

24 / 48 states had laws banning married women from working

Question 38

How were hispanic Americans treated by the government during the Great Depression?

Answer 38

400,000 were deported

Question 39

Which of the below best describes what happened in urban areas during the Great Depression?

Answer 39

Many unemployed across America became homeless and therefore made shanty towns, which became known as Hoovervilles. Hoovervilles in Washington, D.C., and New York City, boasted thousands of inhabitants.