History USA

• Economic policies


  • Laissez Faire
  • Individualism
  • Protectionism
• Republican presidents


  • Warren Harding 1921-23
  • Calvin Coolidge 1923-29
  • Herbert Hoover 1929-33
• Warren Harding's policies


  • Wanted to reduce and limit government interference in the economy, which had grown substantially during war years
  • Wanted to reduce tax burden on the rich
• Calvin Coolidge's policies


  • Believed that the government should have limited involvement in day-to-day running of the economy
  • Reducing regulations would allow businessmen to make their own decisions
• Herbert Hoover's policies


  • Believed that people achieved success through their own hard work
  • People should not expect the government to do things for them, they should fend for themselves
• Electrification


  • Led to a new range of consumer goods such as radios and washing machines
  • Only 33% of American homes in 1920 had electricity but increased to 70% by 1929
• Between 1919 and 1929 industrial productivity (per worker, per hour) increased 72% due to mechanisation
• Mass production


  • New assembly line and new plastics like rayon and cellophane made products cheaper to produce so could be sold at lower prices
• Impact of car industry

  • Mass production stimulated growth in feeder countries industries eq. Steel, wood, rubber, leather and petrol
  • Increase in number of cars stimulated road construction, building of gas stations, motels and restaurants
  • Transformed buying habits and hire purchase became acceptable way of buying costly items
  • Benefited rural areas, making farmers less isolated and more mobile
• Henry Ford's production methods

  1. Pioneered the use of electric conveyor belt and assembly line

  2. Time to assemble Ford's Model T was reduced from 13hrs to 1hr 33min
• Mass production methods


  Caused the cost of the Model T to fall from $850 in 1914 to $295 in 1926
• Model I


  Nicknamed 'Tin Lizzie', the world's first mass-produced car using standardised parts and one colour-batch
• Ford used modern advertising techniques to sell his cars and also introduced hire purchase
• By 1925, the Model T was the world's most popular car
• To offset the boredom of repetitive work


  Ford doubled wages to $5 a day by 1914
• Hire purchase


  Allowed consumers to buy the goods they wanted with a small deposit and then pay the rest back weekly or monthly in instalments
• In the 1920s, 6 out of 10 cars in the USA were bought through hire purchase
• People bought shares in businesses because as industries made more money, the shares became worth more so they would make a profit in the future
• Speculating on the stock market

  Buying on the margin - a way people could borrow money to buy shares so that when they rose in price and made a profit they could sell the shares and pay back the loan and keep the profits without having spent any of their own money
• Tariffs


  Imposed on imported goods to limit competition from foreign imports, making European goods more expensive and encouraging the sale of American products
• The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act (1922) raised import duties to their highest ever levels
• Economic boom cycle


  1. More money available to spend on consumer goods

  2. Increased demand

  3. Increased employment and higher wages

  4. Increased production
• Mass Production


  The production of large quantities of standardized products, often using assembly line techniques
• Played an important role in the boom

  The 20s
• Mass Production


  • Led the way in technological developments
  • Stimulated growth in other industries
• Henry Ford


  • Led the way with new production methods
  • Pioneered the electric conveyor belt and assembly line
• Assembly of Ford's Model T


  Time reduced from 13hrs to 1hr 33 min
• Mass production methods


  Caused the cost of the Model T to fall from $850 in 1914 to $295 in 1926
• Model T


  • The world's first mass-produced car
  • Used standardised parts and one colour
  • Ford used modern advertising techniques to sell his cars
  • Ford introduced hire purchase
• By 1925, half the world's cars were Model Ts
• To offset the boredom of repetitive work


  Ford doubled wages to $5 a day by 1914
• Hire Purchase


  • Payment method that allowed consumers to buy goods with a small deposit and pay the rest back in instalments
  • Pioneered in the car industry
  • 6 out of 10 cars in the USA were bought this way in the 1920s
• Americans had more money to spend in the 1920s, with wages increasing by 25% and prices staying the same or falling
• People bought shares in businesses, speculating on the stock market, as industries made more money and share prices rose
• Buying on the margin

  A way people could borrow money to buy shares, so that when the shares rose in price and made a profit, they could sell the shares and pay back the loan, keeping the profits without spending any of their own money
• Teapot Dome Scandal


  A scandal involving the leasing of government land to oil companies in exchange for illegal payments
• Albert Fall


  • The leading figure in the Teapot Dome Scandal
  • He leased out government land to drill for oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming
  • He received illegal payments of over $400,000 from oil companies
• Oil companies involved


  • Mammoth Oil Company (Harry Sinclair)
  • Pan-American Petroleum & Transport Company (Edward Doheny)
• Teapot Dome Scandal


  1. Details of the secret deals were leaked to the press in 1922

  2. A government inquiry was demanded

  3. The inquiry was not completed until 1927

  4. Albert Fall was found guilty of conspiracy and accepting bribes

  5. He was fined $100,000 and sent to prison

  6. Harry Sinclair was also sent to prison

  7. Edward Doheny was acquitted

  8. The leases were cancelled
• In 1910, the USA had vast supplies of important natural resources such as oil, coal, iron, and timber