America GCSE

• Push Factors


  Reasons to leave home nation
• Push Factors


  • Escape poverty - e.g. Irish potato famine
  • Escape religious persecution - e.g. Jews in Russia
  • Escape war torn Europe - e.g. WW1
  • Escape revolution - e.g. Russia in 1917
• Pull Factors


  Reasons to go to America
• Pull Factors


  • Open Door policy - The govt welcomed immigrants & made entry to USA as easy as possible
  • Meet up with family who were already there
  • Lots of cheap land available on credit
  • Land of opportunity - jobs/business opportunities
• Reasons for opposition to immigration

  • Many felt 'swamped' - 40 million in USA by 1919
  • Large increase in Eastern European immigrants - 13 million arrived between 1910 and 1914
  • Little to offer - poor, illiterate, couldn't speak English
  • Growth of xenophobia - ideal citizen was a WASP so looked down on those from E.Europe, Asia & Italy
  • Fear of Communism - Russian Revolution in 1917 led to a fear of immigrants bringing dangerous political beliefs such as communism and anarchy
  • Blamed for an increase in crime
• Immigration laws introduced


  • 1917 - LITERACY TEST - Had to pass literacy test in English & pay $8 fee
  • 1921 - EMERGENCY QUOTA ACT - 3% quota of total population of each ethnic group in 1910 - 375,000 cap each year
  • 1924 - NATIONAL ORIGINS ACT - 2% quota of 1890 census - allowed more Northern Europeans & fewer Eastern Europeans/Asians
  • 1929 - IMMIGRATION ACT - immigration limited to 150,000 per year. No Asians. Northern & Western Europeans get 85% of places
• Red Scare


  People were scared of immigrants spreading communist & anarchist ideas between 1919-1920
• Reasons for Red Scare


  • Russian Revolution - 1917
  • Spartacist Uprising in Berlin - 1919
  • 1919 - Communist party open branch in USA
  • 1919 - 3600 strikes in USA (feared start of revolution)
  • 1919 - Letter bomb damages Mitchell Palmer's house
  • 1920 - Anarchist Bomb explodes on Wall St - kills 38
• Palmer Raids


  Organised by Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer. Over 6000 suspected communists arrested
• The Monkey Trial showed how fundamentalists were trying to curb freedom of thought
• Native Americans were denied full US citizenship until 1924 when the Indian Citizenship Act was passed
• The Meriem Report found that boarding schools were under-resourced and understaffed and that attempts to 'Americanise' Natives was failing and children should be educated but then allowed to live within their own communities
• Jim Crow Laws


  • Segregated black people - separating them from white people
  • Literacy Test - Black people had to pass a literacy test before being able to register to vote
• KKK


  Racist organisation which aimed to terrorise black Americans in the Southern states who had just been freed from slavery
• Reasons for KKK growth


  • 1915 - film 'Birth of a Nation' leads to a revival of the KKK
  • Red Scare = growth in membership
  • 1920 - 100,000 growing to 5 million in 1925
  • State governors of Oregon and Oklahoma were members, as well as many police, firefighters etc.
• KKK actions


  • Wore white hoods and robes as a symbol of white supremacy
  • Carried American flag and burnt crosses at their night time meetings
  • Carried out lynchings, floggings, mutilations, tar and feathering, kidnapping
• Positive experiences for black Americans


  • NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People)
  • UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association)
  • Harlem Renaissance
• Living conditions for black Americans in both the Southern and Northern states were very difficult
• The Great Migration led to growing racial tensions in the North and race riots in 20 cities in 1919
• Prohibition


  The 'manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquor' was made illegal
• Reasons for prohibition


  • WW1 - it was considered unpatriotic to drink during WW1
  • Industrialists - said it led to abseentism and inefficiency in the workplace
  • Religious groups - said drinking lowered moral standards and undermined traditional values
  • Women - said alcohol led to child neglect & domestic abuse
  • Pressure groups - The Women's Christian Temperance Union & Anti Saloon League campaigned to get it banned
  • Caused an increase in crime and lawlessness
  • Drinking was bad for your health
• The 18th Amendment came into effect in January 1920, making the 'manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquor' illegal
• The Volstead Act clarified 'intoxicating liquor' as anything over 0.5% alcohol and set the penalties for breaking the law
• Growth of organised crime due to prohibition


  • Bootleggers - like Al Capone made large amounts of money smuggling alcohol into the country and selling it
  • Moonshiners - distilled their own illegal home brew
  • Speakeasies - illegal drinking dens selling illegal alcohol sprang up - by 1925 there were 100,000 in New York
  • Gangs often fought each other for control of the streets
  • Gang leaders saw themselves as businessmen and would often murder their rivals
• Al Capone


  Controlled large portions of the Chicago underworld, which provided his gang with an estimated $100 million per year in revenue
• The St Valentine's Day Massacre damaged Al Capone's reputation with the public who saw him as a celebrity
• Reasons for the end of prohibition


  • Economy - Repeal = earning money from tax revenue. Jobs would also be created in brewing industry
  • Enforcement - impossible. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)only had 2500 agents – some corrupt
  • Health - Alcohol related problems increase. By 1926, 50,000 people had died from drinking poisoned alcohol
  • Crime - Led to a growth in organised crime (gangsters)
  • Women - Domestic abuse & child neglect got worse
• Prohibition was repealed on 5th December 1933
• Teapot Dome Scandal


  Albert Fall (Secretary of the Interior) leased out government oil fields that were meant for the navy to ensure they had plenty of reserves in times of a national emergency
• The Supreme Court ruled that the oil leases had been 'corruptly obtained' and the oil fields went back to the navy
• Albert Fall was Found guilty of bribery in 1929. Fined $100,000 and given one year in prison. First govt official ever to be imprisoned
• Republican Policy


  Allowed for consistent economic policy which focused on limited interference from the government when it came to the economy
• Back to Normalcy


  Policy of Harding. Wanted to reduce and limit govt interference in the economy which had grown during the war years. Also wanted to reduce taxes for the rich
• Laissez Faire


  Policy of Coolidge. "Business of America is Business". Govt take a 'hands off' approach in the running of the economy
• The case dragged on until 1927 when the Supreme Court ruled that the oil leases had been 'corruptly obtained' and the oil fields went back to the navy
• Albert Fall was Found guilty of bribery in 1929. Fined $100,000 and given one year in prison. First govt official ever to be imprisoned.
• Harry Sinclair was also sent to prison. Edward Doheny was acquitted
• BACK TO NORMALCY


  Policy of Harding. Wanted to reduce and limit govt interference in the economy which had grown during the war years. Also wanted to reduce taxes for the rich.
• LAISSEZ FAIRE


  Policy of Coolidge. "Business of America is Business". Govt take a 'hands off' approach in the running of the economy. government only get involved in business when asked for help. Low taxes and few regulations meant that businesses prospered.
• RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM


  Policy of Hoover. Believed people achieved success through their own hard work. They should not expect the govt to do things for them (he was a self made millionaire)