America part 1

• Mass Production


  Creating large quantities of standardized products
• Henry Ford


  • Created assembly line
  • Owner of Ford Motors
• Ford's mass production


  1. Went from creating 100 to 1000 cars

  2. Boom cycle - more workers employed, more wages spent, more goods bought, more goods made
• Model T (Tin Lizzie)


  Car produced for many years, parts for one type of car required only, reduces price, more affordable
• In 1911, the Model T cost nearly $800, by 1929 it cost $295 and 15 million were bought during this time
• By 1929, 6 cars were produced every minute, all were black as this was quicker to produce
• Laissez Faire


  Rugged individualism, very few regulations so business free to do what they wanted & low taxes
• Assembly line


  • Workers did not waste time fetching tools and equipment, instead brought to them so production was quicker
• Credit


  • Huge increase in consumer spending and meant people could buy goods even when they did not have enough cash
• Knowledge developed


  • Electricity
  • Skyscrapers
  • Fridges
  • Vacuum cleaners
  • Radios
• American manufacturers and farmers took over European overseas market and expanded them further, replacing Germany as world's leading producer of fertiliser and chemicals
• Advertisement


  • Attractive women in ads, attract men and females encouraged to buy cars too through magazines, newspapers, radio and cinema. This increased sales and profits
• By 1929 most homes had electricity which stimulated industrial growth as electricity provided flexible and efficient form of power for factories and workshops. Use of oil doubled and gas quadrupled
• Tariffs


  • Fordney McCumber Tariff (1922) raised important duties on goods coming to USA, encouraged Americans to buy home-produced goods. Reduction in income tax = more money to spend
• Up to 25 million people involved in frenzy of share dealing in last years of the 1920s. By 1928, share prices were rising fast and the Bull Market was on the Wall Street Stock Exchange
• Jazz Age


  1920s known for jazz music, dance like the Charleston, and clubs like the Cotton Club
• Older generation saw jazz as a corruption influence on younger people
• Popular entertainment in the 1920s

  • Radio
  • Baseball
  • Boxing
  • Cinema (100 million tickets sold, first 'talkie' film made in 1927)
  • Hollywood films about sex
• More conservative states disapproving of the new entertainment, 36 states threatened to introduce censorship legislation
• Tension between rural and urban areas


  People in the country believed traditional values that emphasised religion and family life were under threat from growing cities that they thought were full of atheists, drunks and criminals
• Women in the 1920s

  • Given opportunities to do skilled factory work for the first time when USA joined the war in 1917
  • Domestic work made easier eg vacuum cleaners and washing machines
  • Wore flappers, more daring clothes, smoked and drank in public, went out without chaperones and even kissed in public
  • 10 million women in jobs in 1929, 24% more than in 1920
  • 1914 - 100,000 divorces, in 1929 twice as many, women unlikely to stay in unhappy marriages
  • Obtained a more traditional role once married
  • After the war, many women fired when men returned, still paid less than men, teaching forbidden for married women and many employers made it a rule to not employ
• Total US farm income dropped from $22 billion in 1919 to $13 billion in 1928, with most farm prices falling by 50% in 1921
• ¾ of a million African American farmers became unemployed and forced off their land in the 1920s
• Hundreds of rural banks collapsed, resulting in 5 times as many bankruptcies than in the 1900s and 1910s
• Coalminers did not benefit as they found it difficult to compete with gas and electricity, by 1929 the average wage was $100 compared to a bricklayer in NY earning more than £300/month
• Many coal miners were made redundant or had a reduction in hours worked, others accepted a reduction in their standard of living and did not look for employment elsewhere
• Few railroad companies made large profits due to the rapid development of nationwide road networks and increased car ownership, reducing train usage
• Prohibition


  1920 - Volstead Act banned alcohol because religious groups saw it as sinful, dangerous to children, caused crime, ruined family life, made workers less efficient and land should be used to grow food not alcohol
• Alcohol consumption fell by 30% in the 1920s, but increased again later on
• Only 3000 prohibition agents, who were poorly paid and lacked motivation, and policemen were corrupted and took bribes to ignore them
• Al Capone and other gangsters flourished, making and selling illegal alcohol, leading to gang violence
• Some people stopped drinking and spent more time with families, non-alcoholic drinks became popular and some Black Americans gained fame from entertaining in Speakeasies
• Bootleggers


  Illegal liquor, rum from West Indies, whisky crossed river Detroit to Canada
• 1850-1914 'open door policy' - 40 million people emigrated to America, equating to 10% of the population in Europe. By the 1920s, there were twice as many Irish people in NY than in Dublin
• 'New immigrants'


  Italy, Austria-Hungary, Poland, Greece and Russia in the early 1900s or late 1800s
• The 'new immigrants' were often resented or feared - they were poor, did not speak English well, and had unfamiliar traditions and practices
• Irish immigrants competed for the best jobs and housing, Mexicans faced racism
• 1917 - Literacy Tests banned entry to anyone who was unable to read a sentence of 40 words, 1921 - Immigration Quota Law limited to 350,000 each year, 1924 National Origins act limited to 150,000 per year
• Red Scare


  Fear of communism increased as fear of communist revolution in 1929, American Communist party set up already with 1.5 million Russians
• Alexander Mitchell Palmer, in charge of law & police, was the target of a terrorist attack. He then found a communist paper next to the suicide bomber