Chapter 7 Notes

1. Chapter 7 Notes The Twenties 1919-1929

2. Chapter 7 Notes Section 1 A Booming Economy

3. Focus Question: How did the booming economy of the 1920’s lead to changes in American life? The Automobile Drives Prosperity • Henry Ford introduced a series of methods and ideas that revolutionized production, wages, working conditions, and daily life.

4. In 1908 Henry Ford introduced the Model T. • It was a reliable car that the average American could afford at $850.

5. He put his cars on moving assembly lines. • At each step a worker added something to construct the automobile.

6. The assembly line allowed Ford to keep dropping the sale price. • The Model T price fell to $350 by 1916 and to $290 by 1927.

7. In 1914 Ford doubled the wages of his workers from $2.35 to $5.00 a day. • He reduced the work day from 9 to 8 hours. • In 1926 Ford became the first major industrialist to give his workers Saturday and Sunday off.

8. Ford realized that if workers made more money and had more leisure time, they would become potential customers for his automobiles.

9. The automotive industry stimulated growth in other industries related to cars like steel, oil, rubber, and road construction.

10. The automobile prompted a new sense of freedom and prosperity. • The automobile led to the development of suburban communities.

11. How did Henry Ford increase the production and sale of automobiles? He put his cars on moving assembly lines and realized that if workers made more money and had more leisure time, they would become potential customers for his automobiles.

12. A Bustling Economy • Advertising and credit build a consumer culture. • Magazine, newspaper, and radio ads focused on the desires and fears of Americans more on what people really needed. • Installment buying “Buy now and pay later”

13. The stock market enjoyed a period of rising prices

14. Investors ignored financial risks and bought stock on margin. • Buying on Margin – A buyer would borrow money from a broker to buy a stock and pay the broker back over a period of months. • A buyer only had to pay as little as 10 percent of the stock price up front to a broker. • Buyers gambled that they would be able to sell the stock at a profit before the loan came due.

15. How did buying on margin allow more people to invest in the stock market? A buyer only had to pay as little as 10 percent of the stock price up front to a broker.

16. Cities, Suburbs, and Country • The movement of people was toward the cities.

17. Improved mass transportation and the widespread use of automobiles caused cities to expand outward.

18. As the century progressed, suburbs drained people and resources from the cities. • Suburbs catered to middle and upper class residents and tended to be more conservative and Republican. • Meanwhile, the inner cities at the heart of older urban areas began a slow but steady decline.

19. Many people living in the country did not participate in the consumer benefits and economic gains of the decade.

20. What impact did the development of the suburbs have on American society? As the century progressed, suburbs drained people and resources from the cities.

21. Chapter 7 Notes Section 2 The Business of Government

22. Focus Question: How did domestic and foreign policy change direction under Harding and Coolidge? The Harding Administration • In 1920, Warren G. Harding was elected President on a pledge of a “return to normalcy”.

23. Andrew Mellon – A wealthy banker who was Secretary of the Treasury. • He favored low taxes on individuals and corporations and helped to reduce the federal budget from $18 billion to $3 billion.

24. Harding was a kind a likable man but not especially intelligent. • He trusted his friends to make decisions for him. • Unfortunately, his friends were greedy, small minded men who saw government service as a chance to get rich at the expense of the citizens.

25. The Harding administration was known for scandals and corruption just like the George W. Bush administration.

26. The Teapot Dome Scandal was the most notorious. • Albert Fall transferred oil reserves from control of the Navy to his control as Secretary of Interior. He then leased the properties to private oilmen in return for bribes.

27. After a Senate investigation, the oil reserves were returned to the government and Fall served a year in jail. • President Harding died of a heart attack on August 2, 1923.

28. What were the causes and effects of the Teapot Dome scandal? Albert Fall transferred oil reserves from control of the Navy to his control as Secretary of Interior. He then leased the properties to private oilmen in return for bribes. After a Senate investigation, the oil reserves were returned to the government and Fall served a year in jail.

29. Coolidge Prosperity • Calvin Coolidge was in many ways the opposite of Harding. • He was quiet, honest, and frugal. • He continued the policies of low taxes, reducing the national debt, and trimming the federal budget.

30. Beneath the booming national economy there were grave problems. • Farmers struggled to keep their lands. • Labor unions demanded higher wages and better working conditions. • African Americans experienced severe discrimination

31. What policies did Calvin Coolidge favor to support economic growth? He continued the policies of low taxes, reducing the national debt, and trimming the federal budget.

32. America’s Role in the World • World leaders agreed that they should seek ways to avoid war. • The Washington Naval Disarmament Conference raised hopes that nations could solve disagreements without resorting to war. • The Kellogg-Briand Pact to “outlaw” war “as an instrument of national policy” was ratified by 62 nations, then quickly ignored.

33. The Dawes Plan arranged U.S. loans to Germany so that it could pay reparations to England and France so that they could pay back war loans to the United States.

34. How did the United States support world peace efforts during the 1920’s? The Washington Naval Disarmament Conference and the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

35. Chapter 7 Notes Section 3 Social and Cultural Tensions

36. Focus Question: How did Americans differ on major social and cultural issues? Traditionalism and Modernism Clash • The 1920 census revealed, for the first time ever, that more people lived in the cities than the country.

37. Urban Americans were Modernists who showed an openness toward social change, enjoyed new consumer products, and emphasized science and secular values.

38. Rural Americans were Traditionalists who were suspicious of social change, missed out on many new consumer products, and emphasized established religious values.

39. Formal education became more important to urban Americans but no so much for rural Americans. • Religious fundamentalism emerged grew especially strong in the rural areas.

40. Fundamentalists emphasized Protestant teachings, believed that every word in the Bible was literally true, and that the answer to every important moral and scientific question could be found in the Bible.

41. Fundamentalists and modernists clashed in the Scopes Trial of 1925 also known as the “Monkey Trial”

42. A 1925 law passed in Tennessee made it illegal to teach Darwin’s theory of evolution in public schools. • Teacher John Scopes was arrested when he taught evolution in his classroom.

43. Clarence Darrow was the lawyer who defended John Scopes and William Jennings Bryan served as an expert for the prosecution.

44. Modernist supported Darrow and Traditionalists supported Bryan.

45. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 • Each side still believed in the truth of its position and the conflict over evolution still continues today.

46. How did the Scopes Trial illustrate the urban-rural split in the 1920’s? Modernist supported Darrow and Traditionalists supported Bryan.

47. Restricting Immigration • 1914 Congress passed a law forbidding immigrants who could not read and write in their own language. • 1921 Emergency Quota Act • 1924 National Origins Act

48. The quota system did not apply to Mexicans who continued to find work harvesting crops in the southwest.

49. How did new laws change U.S. immigration policy in the 1920s? Congress passed laws restricting immigration from southern and eastern Europe.

50. The New Ku Klux Klan • 1915 The KKK was reformed in Stone Mountain Georgia to target not just African Americans but also Jews, Catholics, and immigrants. • Members of the KKK were afraid of diversity and change and used violence achieve their goals.