USA Unit 1

Question 1

What is the size of the USA?

Answer 1

Over 9 million square km.

Question 2

How was the USA diverse in 1918?

Answer 2

It had a population of around 105 million people. All ranging from different ethnic backgrounds such as Europe, Latin America and Africa.
It was a melting pot of different cultures, however, this often caused tensions.

Question 3

How was the USA a melting pot in 1918? What groups faced persecution?

Answer 3

USA was a melting pot of different cultures. Many groups such as;
-African Americans
-Native Americans
-New immigrants
faced persecution.

Question 4

What were the powers of the federal system?

Answer 4

-Declaring war.
-Armed forces.
-Foreign policy.
-Regulating interstate trade.
-The currency.

Question 5

What were the powers of the state system?

Answer 5

-Marriage laws.
-Regulating trade within the state.
-Education.
-Local government.

Question 6

What were the shared powers of the federal and state system?

Answer 6

-Law and order.
-Taxes.
-Court system.
-Regulating banks.
-Public welfare.

Question 7

What were the roles of the Legislative (Congress) branch?

Answer 7

-Passing laws.
-Agreeing taxes.
-Agreeing President’s appointments of judges and ministers.

Question 8

What were the roles of the Executive (President) branch?

Answer 8

-Proposes laws.
-Runs foreign policy.
-Appoints government ministers.
-Commands armed forces.

Question 9

What were the roles of the Judicial (Supreme Court) branch?

Answer 9

-Interprets constitution and laws.
-Final appeal court.

Question 10

Who can the President check?

Answer 10

The President can check:
-the Congress as it can veto laws.
-the Supreme Court because the President appoints judges.

Question 11

Who can the Supreme Court check?

Answer 11

The Supreme Court can check:
-the President and Congress as it can say actions are unconstitutional.

Question 12

Who can the Congress check?

Answer 12

The Congress can check:
-President’s power as it can reject appointments or overrun the President’s veto, and can withhold taxes.
-Supreme Court as it can pass new laws and change the constitution.

Question 13

How was the USA a republic in 1918?

Answer 13

It was a republic as it was divided into:
-elected president who sets policy.
-elected congress that makes laws.
-appointed Supreme Court that checks laws are in keeping with the constitution.

Question 14

What did the USA do during 1914-17?

Answer 14

It offered huge loans to help Britain and France keep fighting and sold them far more goods than they shipped to Germany.

Question 15

What did Wilson declare in 1917?

Answer 15

He declared war on Germany because German submarines had begun to attack US ships and secret telegrams of German plot against the USA was revealed.

Question 16

What areas of the USA benefitted economically from the WW1?

Answer 16

-Industry.
-Agriculture.
-Workers.

Question 17

How did industry benefit economically from WW1?

Answer 17

-Factory production grew by 35% during WW1.
-Steel industry benefitted as in 1910 USA produced 26.1m tonnes but by 1920 they produced 42.1m tonnes.
-Natural resources such as coal, petrol, and gas production industries grew quickly.
-Transport benefited as shipbuilding increased to replace ships destroyed by submarines and the railroads were modernised to transport wartime goods and soldiers around USA efficiently.

Question 18

Why did USA’s industry benefit from WW1?

Answer 18

Industry benefited as Europeans were involved in the war and thus did not have time to extract enough fuel or produce enough iron and steel. Americans provided this, leading to immense growth.

Question 19

How did USA’s agriculture benefit economically from WW1?

Answer 19

Prices for agricultural goods rose by 25%.
The average income of a farmer that owned their own farm increased by 30%.
Increased mechanisation as sales for tractors rose.
More and more farmers took out loans to expand their farms to increase production of wheat to sell abroad.
By the time Europe had recovered, USA supplied 30% of world’s wheat and 55% of its cotton.

Question 20

Why did USA’s agriculture benefit economically from WW1?

Answer 20

Production on US farms grew rapidly as most European farmers had to fight in the war and production in Europe had dropped.
There was huge global demand which the USA supplied.

Question 21

How did USA’s workers benefit economically from WW1?

Answer 21

During last two years of war, number of people working increased by 1.3m.
Increase in wages for most workers.
Wages of unskilled workers rose by 20% during war.
More opportunities for workers from different ethnic backgrounds as they needed to replace men who had gone to fight in Europe. Many women also joined workforce.
African Americans moved from agriculture in Southern states to industrial jobs in Northern ones.

Question 22

Why did USA’s workers benefit economically?

Answer 22

USA’s workers benefitted economically because demand for industrial and agricultural goods rose, meaning more workers are needed.

Question 23

What were the limitations of the economic benefits of WW1 on USA?

Answer 23

-Race riots due to the African Americans working in industrial areas.
-Farmers who had borrowed money to expand production struggled to pay their loans back as aggregate demand dropped from Europe.
-Returning soldiers re-entered the workforce. This led to women losing their war-time jobs.
-Government contracts cancelled.
-European farming had recovered by 1920 which lowered demand for industrial and agricultural goods.

Question 24

What was America experiencing during the 1920s?

Answer 24

After 1922, America was experiencing an economic boom. The average income of an American was rising while the number of hours they were expected to work was falling.

Question 25

What did unemployment never rise above until 1929?

Answer 25

Unemployment never rose above 3.7% until 1929.

Question 26

What was mass production? Who introduced it?

Answer 26

Henry Ford introduced mass production techniques.
Before, it took 12 hours for skilled workers to produce a Model T car in a workshop.
After, on some of their most efficient days, Ford produced a Model T car every 10 seconds.
Mass production is when workers are lined up along a continuously moving surface called a conveyor belt. It involved specialisation and division of labour.

Question 27

What did mass production result?

Answer 27

Henry Ford experienced a drop in price due to lower costs due to efficiency. The original cost was $950 but by 1925 it was only $250.
There was a huge demand for these which meant boom in other industries since they were used in the production.
There was an increase in car ownership.

Question 28

What was hire purchase? What did it encourage?

Answer 28

Hire purchase was the availability of credit to buy new things. Customers hired the product, paying for it in instalments. Once they paid they full amount, the product is theirs.
It encouraged people to keep buying.
In 1929, 75% of cars and 50% of electrical devices were bough using hire purchase.
There was a high demand which meant factories had reason to keep producing.

Question 29

What encouraged consumerism?

Answer 29

Consumerism was encouraged through advertising and marketing companies. e.g. buying a variety of branded goods.
Instead of handkerchiefs you had to wash, you could wash Kimberly Clark disposable ones.

Question 30

What did shopping become for Americans?

Answer 30

Shopping became a leisure activity for Americans. People wanted to show that they were better off than their neighbours and did this by buying new consumer goods.
By 1929, there were 1395 department stores.
In 1921, 5000 refrigerators were sold but by 1929, this reached 1million.
$850million was spent on home entertainment each year.

Question 31

How did they advertise?

Answer 31

Advertising was done using big posters and colourful pages in newspapers and magazines to encourage people to buy their products. e.g. Kellogg’s.
Businesses tried to overwhelm consumers with images of their brands to change their buying habits. They also found new markets for their goods. e.g. Listerine was sold as an anti-septic, mouthwash and deodorant.

Question 32

How were radios used in advertising?

Answer 32

By 1929 there were 618 radio stations and most of these carried adverts, or were sponsored by big brand names.
In 1923, NYC radio programme was sponsored by the battery maker so it was called Eveready Hour.
This meant Americans were even spending their leisure time listening to adverts.

Question 33

How did advertising boost the economy?

Answer 33

By 1929, $2 billion a year was spent on advertising.
It was a big business as 600,000 people were employed in this industry.
It boosted the economy as it encouraged spending which created need for production which means workers are needed which means people have more money to spend.

Question 34

How did the popularity of the stock market lead to economic boom during the 1920s?

Answer 34

During the 1920s, there was immense stock market popularity.
During 1927-29, 1.5million ordinary Americans started buying shares in the American stock market in Wall Street NYC.
They either used they own money or were ‘buying on the margin’ which was risky as it was essentially a gamble.
Companies started selling more shares which provided them with finance to develop their business. By 1925, 500,000 shares were available to buy on the stock market, but this increased to 1,127,000 by 1929.

Question 35

What was as a result of the economic boom? - roaring twenties

Answer 35

As a result of the economic boom, Americans had more money to spend and more leisure time.
The average income rose by 30% in the 1920s but they worked fewer hours.

Question 36

What was the leisure industry during the roaring twenties?

Answer 36

The leisure industry peaked as Americans spent $1.8billion more on their leisure activities in 1929 than they had 10 years before. They bought new radio equipment, attended sports events and watched films at the cinema.

Question 37

How was the cinema affected by the roaring twenties?

Answer 37

Movies grew very popular during the 1920s.
In 1924, around 40million cinema tickets were sold each week. By 1929, this doubled as the film industry did everything to attract more viewers.
The film industry sold $2 billion in cinema tickets each year.
Also, advertising was done through the movies.
Celebrities like Charlie Chaplin became idols and major sources of entertainment.

Question 38

What was the first movie to be successful with animation techniques? And when?

Answer 38

Walt Disney’s steamboat Willy was the first movie to be successful with this technique in 1928.

Question 39

What was the first movie with sound? And when?

Answer 39

The first movie with sound was the Jazz Singer in 1927.

Question 40

What company came up with a way to produce films in colour? And when?

Answer 40

By 1922, Technicolour Corporation came up with a way to produce colour films.

Question 41

How was jazz and dancing affected by the roaring twenties? Who made it so popular?What dances were introduced and popular?
How was there opposition to jazz?

Answer 41

It became immensely popular.
Men like Duke Ellington, who performed at the Cotton Club in NYC and Paul Whitman who introduced symphonic jazz performed by a white orchestra helped make it very popular. They both had international fame.
Jazz music helped to inspire new forms of dancing such as the Charleston which was a fast dance with kicks and a complex sequence of steps. Another dance was the Black Bottom which was fast and energetic and became popular thanks to a show called George White Scandals. It led to marathon dancing which had now become a test of fitness. Couples had to keep dancing until everyone else had stopped due to exhaustion. Jazz had a lot of opposition as it was associated with immoral behaviour amongst younger people.

Question 42

What did F. Scott Fitzgerald call the 1920s?

Answer 42

He called it the Jazz Age due to the growing popularity of this form of music.

Question 43

How did sport become increasingly popular during the 1920s? What sport heroes were there?

Answer 43

As Americans had more leisure time, they spent it watching their favourite sports. This hobby became very popular.
In 1921, 300,000 people went to watch the baseball World Series.
The popularity also helped to create huge sport heroes such as:
-Gertrude Ederle, a US swimmer that became the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926.

Question 44

How were radios and advertising increasingly popular during the roaring twenties?

Answer 44

The number of radios in the USA grew from 60,000 in 1920 to 10million in 1929.
They broadcasted a range of shows, sport commentaries and live music.
In 1929, National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was set up and combined popular stations so that everyone in the US began hearing similar views, news and adverts for the first time.

Question 45

How did listening to radios influence Americans’ spare time?

Answer 45

As they were constantly listening to adverts, it influenced how they spent their spare time:
-Women bough Max Factor make up and learned how to apply it, so they could look like movie stars.
-Photography using Kodak cameras became popular.
-Colgate encouraged people to brush their teeth and Listerine suggested they wash their mouth.

Question 46

How did motoring change during the roaring twenties?

Answer 46

At the start of the decade, 8million people owned motor cars, but by 1929, 23million people owned cars. This was mainly due to Ford’s Model T car. However, he gained competitors that helped turn motoring into a hobby by offering a greater variety of models.
E.g. General Motors produced a more expensive car called the K Model Chevrolet in 1925.
Car ownership, maintenance and driving became a leisure activity rather than a way of getting around;

Question 47

What did Ford’s cheaper car mean for Americans? - roaring twenties

Answer 47

It means Americans could travel greater distances, in shorter times, at lower prices. This meant:
-It was easier to go on holiday or day trips. The number of visitors to American National parks went up from 198,000 in 1910 to 2.7million in 1930.
-Bargain hunters could visit suburban shopping centres. Plans for the first such development, in Kansas city began in 1922.
-Major cities were in reach of more people. Residents of rural areas felt less remote because they could partake in activities held in cities.

Question 48

What was women’s position in the world of work during 1918?

Answer 48

WW1 meant that women could replace the men who went to fight. During the course of the war, they made up 20% of the workforce, in workplaces such as factories and steel mills. However, most women still worked in jobs seen as traditionally female, like secretaries and book keepers. It was also expected that women, unless from a poor background would not continue to work after they got married.

Question 49

What rights did women have in 1918?

Answer 49

Some states like NY had given women the right to vote in local and state elections. NY passed law for this in 1917.
Despite this progress, many American women did not have the vote or the same employment opportunities, right to equal pay and legal rights as men.

Question 50

What were women’s lifestyles during 1918?

Answer 50

Most thought that women should do the household tasks, follow their husband’s instructions and behave respectably. This meant women mainly spent their days cooking, cleaning and raising children. If they went out, they required a chaperone and were not expected to drink or smoke.

Question 51

What improvements did women experience in the world of work during the 1920s?

Answer 51

During the 1920s, women’s situations improved:
-More women worked as 2 million women joined the workforce meaning they now made up 20% in total.
-They had access to more jobs. In one study, women were found in 537 of 572 different jobs available showing greater variety.
-More married women worked. This went from 1.9million to 3.1 million in the 1920s.

Question 52

What improvements did women experience in rights during the roaring twenties?

Answer 52

-In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment of the US constitution gave women the right to vote. This meant the government began passing more laws that reflected the interests of women. E.g. The Sheppard - Towner Act of 1921 which provided health care services with the money needed to support pregnant women through local health centres.
Also, 145 women were in state governments which gave them a voice they did not have before the 1920s.

Question 53

How did women’s lifestyles change during the 1920s?

Answer 53

Their freedom rose.
The divorce rate rose from 10% to 17%.
Birth rate fell to 21.3 births per 1000 people.
There was an increase in electrical appliances being bought such as vacuum cleaners which made household tasks easier.
Fewer women felt they had to stay in failing relationships, look after several children and spend hours sweeping the house.
Had more leisure time.
Some rebelled against tradition and became flappers.

Question 54

What were the limitations of the improvements made in the world of work for women in the 1920s?

Answer 54

Most women were still working in traditionally female jobs.
Only 12% of married women had jobs near the end of the 1920s.
Racial minority women remained in the lowest paid jobs, often as domestic servants.

Question 55

What were the limitations of the improvements in rights for women in the 1920s?

Answer 55

Most women did not use their vote to gain more power by voting as a group, but instead followed their husband’s decision.
Only 2 women were in the House of Representatives, part of central government in 1928.
Most women did not achieve equal pay. In 1927, the average women earned $12 less than a man each week.

Question 56

What were the limitations of the improvements in lifestyles for women in the 1920s?

Answer 56

The proportion of women who attended higher education, compared to men, fell in the 1920s.
Women were still expected to look after the home and the children.
There were 40,000 beauty parlours by 1930, but this was just a distraction from graining more rights.

Question 57

What were the flappers during the 1920s?

Answer 57

The flappers tended to be young single working-class women, middle-class college students and free spirited upper-class women.
they challenged the traditional image by cutting their hair short, colouring it, putting on makeup and wearing short skirts with stockings rolled down to their knees.
They drove themselves to clubs and dance halls, where they smoked and danced.

Question 58

What did flappers reject?

Answer 58

Flappers rejected the values of their parents, who had grown up in the clean living culture of the 19th century.

Question 59

How did flappers change the position of women?

Answer 59

Flappers helped change the position of women by challenging traditional attitudes. Girls like Clara Bow who became known as the ‘it girl’ became role models for young women.

Question 60

What change did flappers encourage?

Answer 60

Increase in the number of women who had sex before marriage.
More women going on dates without chaperones.
Greater emphasis on appearance, with more money spent on makeup and perfume.

Question 61

How was the flapper lifestyle and impact limited?

Answer 61

The flapper lifestyle was limited to those that could afford it, so did not include ethnic and racial minority groups, and was short lived. Many flappers, as they aged, gave up their freedom and followed the more traditional pattern of getting married and having children.

Question 62

What industries were struggling during the 1920s?

Answer 62

Although newer industries were very successful, those involved in farming, coal mining and textile manufacturing struggled. This led to a decade of division between these industries.

Question 63

How was the farming industry struggling during the 1920s?

Answer 63

Around 1/3 of the labour force in the USA worked on farms. During the WW1, prices were high but in the 1920s, prices fell just as quickly.
A bushel went from $2.50 to less than $1.
Cotton prices fell by as much as 2/3.
Farm incomes dropped and around 2/3 of farmers began to operate at a loss. They could no longer afford to pay their costs.
In 1924 alone, 600,000 people lost their farms.

Question 64

How were farmers overproducing during the 1920s? Why was demand falling?

Answer 64

Farmers were overproducing while demand for their goods fell. They had invested in mechanisation which increased their production rates and led to overproduction.
Demand was falling due to:
-New man-made materials, such as rayon, along with the fashion for shorter skirts, meant there was less demand for cotton.
-Prohibition reduced demand for wheat, which was used as a part of the brewing process.

Question 65

What was mechanisation on farms?

Answer 65

Mechanisation involved the replacement of horses with tractors. instead of food, the farmers now needed fuel to run their farms.

Question 66

What and when was the Emergency Tariff Act?

Answer 66

The Emergency Tariff act of 1921 put tariffs on imports which made them more expensive. This led to Americans buying more domestic goods. However, other countries soon placed similar tariffs on their imports from the USA, so they became harder to sell outside the country.

Question 67

What did the recovery of Europe mean for farmers?

Answer 67

The recovery of Europe by 1922 meant their farms were able to produce enough food to feed themselves, reducing demand foripported food from the USA.

Question 68

What caused overproduction in the farming industry?

Answer 68

-Mechanisation. Ten times as many tractors in 1920 than there had been in 1915. This sped up the production of food and made it possible to farm more land with fewer people.
-Easy access to credit - the Agricultural Credits Act of 1923 which made it easier for farmers to borrow money in order to improve their farms.
-Other scientific advances such as seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to increase the yield of farms.

Question 69

What were the impact of the changes causing overproduction?

Answer 69

Even though demand dropped in the 1920s, farmers were producing 9% more. This was very damaging.
In 1926, there was a huge crop for cotton but little demand causing its prices to drop and many farmers in the south went bankrupt.
By the end of the 1920s, farm workers made up 1/5 of the labour force. This number had been reduced by around 1million in a decade.

Question 70

What problems did older industries face?

Answer 70

Older industries faced:
-lower demand for their goods.
-increased competition from products that could replace them.

Question 71

How was coal mining a struggling industry?

Answer 71

Coal mining produced fuel to heat homes and power machines.
Oil had started to replace coal as a means of heating homes.
This is seen by the fact that in 1920, 568million tonnes of coal were mined but in 1930 this fell to 518million tonnes.
By 1929, 550,000 homes were heated by oil. Miners also faced competition from electricity and gas as alternative sources of power.

Question 72

How did the textiles industry struggle during the 1920s?

Answer 72

Before the war, cotton and woollen mills had processed the material needed for clothing Americans. After, the war, the textiles industry faced a huge drop in demand due to changing fashion and competition from a new material called rayon. As a result, textile production began to decline in the mills of New England, the Appalachian regions and the rural south.
Mill workers and cotton farmers of the Southern states both struggled finding a market for their crop.

Question 73

How was the railroad industry struggling during the 1920s? Why?

Answer 73

It had grown rapidly during WW1 to meet the need to transport supplies and troops around the USA.
-e.g. Railroad Administration had introduced a standard size for the track, speeding up transportation times.
It continued to grow during the 1920s, but at a much slower rate. The growth and been slowed won by more car ownership for personal use, which affected passenger numbers on trains and the increase in the number of road meant more commercial goods were transported on them.

Question 74

What were the effects if the decline in industries?

Answer 74

-Many workers left their families, without the guarantee of a new job. they also had to overcome the challenge that they lacked the skills required for the new manufacturing industries, making them less attractive to employers.
-Workers that stayed in older industries experienced poverty.
-Strikes became more violet and common. In 1929, a police chief was killed trying to break up a strike by mill workers int eh South.
-Wages were cut. In 1920, the average rail worker earned $1800 per yea. This had fallen to $1700 by 1929.
-Jobs were lost. In 1923, there were 862,000 coal miners working each day. This fell to 654,000 by 1929.
-Employment was unstable. In the town of Muncie, Indiana, 72% were jobless at some stage in their working life.