Roaring 20s Part 2

1922 - Tariff Policy: The Fordney-McCumber Tariff
1. The American Government made sure that foreign good did no compete with home-produced goods.
  1. In 1922, Congress passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff
2. This put a tariff (tax) on foreign goods and made them more expensive than the same American products.
3. The policy was intended to protect American industry and worked well in the 1920s. It helped to create 'boom' conditions.
4. The tariff was not so effective in the long term as it encouraged foreign governments to retaliate and put tariffs on American goods.
1920s - Hire purchase
1. People paying a deposit and then paying off the rest in installments.
  1. This was helped by the relatively low rates of interest charged by banks
    1. Helped factories expand, more jobs were available (ECONOMY WAS BOOMING!)
1920s - Shares
1. People bought shares in companies as investments
  1. Price of shares went up and up
    1. Money was borrowed from banks. Banks were willing to lend more then they actually had.
      1. Banks were confident that rising share prices values would go up sufficiently before investors wanted to withdraw their savings.
2. Buying shares ' on the margin'
During the 1920s, the stock market boomed. On average, share prices went up 300 per cent.
Rich vs Poor
1. 5 per cent of the population enjoyed about one-third of the nation's wealth
2. Farmers had a hard time in the 1920s, produced more food than was needed, prices began to fell
  1. Farmers were unable to keep up their mortgage payments. Some farmers were evicted and others were forced to sell their land. Some farmers got evicted.
3. African Americans had a hard time in the 1920s, 1 million lost their jobs in the 1920s
  1. Many of them moved to the North where they found lower paid jobs
4. Not all industries benefited from the boom e.g. coal industry because of new form of power such as electricity and gas.
  1. Wages cut and job losses in the coal and cotton industry
5. Many children worked long hours in textile factories and in agriculture for very low wages
Race: Immigration control
1. Before WW1, millions of Europeans and Asians emigrated to the USA.
  1. The country was seen as a 'melting pot' of nationalities and races
    1. There were growing fears about the consequences of an 'open door' policy for immigrants, before the 1920s
2. Immigrants provided cheap labour and therefore created competition for jobs
3. Immigrants might bring new political ideas, such as communism from Russia, which would be a threat to America democracy
4. Racial prejudice against those who were not white skinned and did no originate from Northern Europe
5. There were a increase of crime and violence because of the ghettos in the citites
The Ku Klux Klan
1. Slavery was abolished during the American Civil War (1861-65). African Americans did not have equal rights. Segregation was legal in the southern states
  1. Segregation keeping a group separate from the rest of society, usually based on race, religion. Segregation was seen in separate schools, transports and housing
2. Jim Crow Laws
  1. The name Jim Crow was made popular by a white American comedian who made fun of African Americans. Originally, Jim Crow was a character in an old song. This name became linked to the southern laws ensuring that African American people remained interior
3. KKK formed in 1866
  1. Reformed in 1915, attacked Catholics and Jews plus African Americans
    1. 5 million members in early 1920s
      1. Police and judges were members of the KKK
4. African Americans feared the KKK
  1. Suffered acts of violence e.g. beating, raping, lynched
5. KKK believed in WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants)

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Roaring 20s Part 2

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	Created by b-jane-williams about 11 years ago