USA

• Prohibition refers to the period between 1920 and 1934 when the production, transportation and sale of alcohol was banned in the USA
• 3 causes of Prohibition:

  ● Alcohol was thought to cause an increase in crime and lawlessness

  ● Lowered moral standards/ undermined tradition clues

  ● Said to be a cause of wife beating and child abuse
• What is a bootlegger?

  A person who supplies and distributes illegal alcohol.
• 3 reasons the law was hard to enforce:

  ● Moonshiners produced illegal home brews

  ● Large numbers of speakeasies sold illegal alcohol

  ● Bootleggers smuggled alcohol into the country
• How many people died of drinking alcohol by 1926?

  50000
• Why did Prohibition come to an end?

  ● Increase in organised crime

  ● Increased violence due to gangster activities

  ● After the Wall Street Crash, many argued that making alcohol legal would create much needed jobs
• Which law ended Prohibition and when was it passed?

  21st Amendment in December 1933
• 3 other areas that gangsters were involved in were gambling dens, prostitution and supplying drugs.
• Where and when was Al Capone born?

  New York, 1899
• Whose gang did Al Capone take over, where and when?

  Johnny Torrio, Chicago in 1925.
• How did Al Capone build up his empire of organised crime?

  He bribed senior police chiefs and the city mayor
• What did Capone's empire include?

  Speakeasies, bookmakers, gambling houses, brothels, nightclubs and breweries
• Al Capone killed 200 rivals between 1925 and 1929
• What was the St Valentine's Day massacre?

  Capone attempted to kill rival gangster, Bugs Moran in a warehouse on 14/02/1929. Moran survived but 7 of his gang members were gunned down by Capone's men.
• Causes of the Economic Boom

  • World War 1
  • Natural Resources
  • Cheap Labour Force
  • Stock Market
  • Credit/Hire purchase
  • Laissez-faire
  • Mass Production
• Mass Production is the manufacture of goods on a large scale. Pioneered by Henry Ford using his assembly line, it was used in Henry Ford's factory to make Model T Cars (Tin Lizzies)
• Name 4 natural resources that helped the USA with the boom:

  • Oil
  • Coal
  • Wood
  • Iron
• Why did the USA have a cheap labour force?

  Immigration from Europe before WWI
• Why dis Agriculture and industry grow during WWI?

  Britain and France bought supplies from the USA
• What is an import duty?

  Taxes placed on imported goods.
• In which year was Harding made president?

  1919
• In what year did the TDS (Teapot Dome Scandal) enter the newspaper?

  April 1922
• What does POTUS stand for?

  President of the US
• Teapot Dome Scandal:

  • 1922, Albert Fall (one of Harding's cabinet ministers) leased government oil fields to his wealthy friends in secret.
  • Fall received $400,000 in cash.
  • This was revealed in newspapers (April 1922) but Harding said he had approved it.
  • The Senate investigated and faith in the US government was damaged.
  • Fall was fined $100,000 and sentenced to a year in prison.
• In which year did the popularity of the KKK decline?

  1925
• What does KKK stand for?

  Ku Klux Klan
• What does WASP stand for?

  White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
• When was the Monkey Trial?

  1925
• What was the Monkey Trial?

  Biology teacher, John Scopes, deliberately taught Darwins ideas and his theory of Evolution in a school in Tennessee in 1925. He was fined $100 and sentenced to 1 year in Jail.
• When were literacy tests introduced for immigrants? 

  1917
• America's assets and development


  • Essential supply of natural resources such as timber, iron, coal, minerals, oil and land
  • Immigrants provided a plentiful and cheap work force to utilise these resources
• The USA experienced significant growth during the First World War while European economies suffered
• US banks loaned money to Europe and businesses sold much needed goods during the First World War
• The war provided a stimulus for inventions in production, materials and advertising
• There was a small slump immediately after the war but from 1922 the USA experienced an unprecedented economic boom
• Electricity industry


  • Experienced a huge boom in the 1920s
  • By 1929 the majority of houses in America had electricity and 70 per cent of them used it for lighting purposes
  • Demand for electricity doubled as a result of the development of factories to produce consumer goods
• Mass production


  • Introduced in factories to drive machinery
  • Enabled the production of consumer goods like refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and radio sets
• Car industry


  • Best example of mass production during the period
  • Henry Ford pioneered affordable cars for the American people
  • By 1925 the price of a car was around $290, much cheaper than $850 in 1908
  • By 1929 Americans owned 23 million cars
• The car industry boosted the entire economy by creating thousands of jobs, and leading to the building of roads, petrol stations, hotels and restaurants
• Hire-purchase and credit


  A way of borrowing money, allowing people to buy goods and pay for them over time