1920s America Exam: Assessment L&E

Transcription

1 1920s America Exam: Assessment L&E Preparing for the exam. You have four tasks to complete to prepare for the exam. 1] Flash Card Revision: Why did Americans become richer? Read the Card. Cover the card. Write what you can remember on the Why did America become richer revision grid. Keep doing this until you have all facts in each grid. The grid must be ready to show your teacher in class on: 2] Sum up Your Learning Life in Prohibition America.. Read Life in prohibition America. Write down five things you have learned at the end. The sheet must ready to show your teacher in class on: 3] Mind Mapping: Read Life in prohibition America. Draw a mind map to show key features of life in Prohibition America. The sheet must be ready to show your teacher in class on: 4] Question Cards Make up question cards on the information based on the Depression. The sheet must be ready to show your teacher in class on: Your exam is on

2 Task 1 Mass production Cheap Credit Share Ownership Tariff Barriers

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4 Mass Production Henry Ford invented the assembly line. Instead of a worker making a product the product e.g. a car was brought to them. Each worker did the same task each day and so got very quick at it. Mass production This brought the cost of items down. A Model T Ford car fell from $900 to $290. People could afford more things so felt better off Cheap credit Hire Purchase is credit. You get to have the stuff now and pay for it later. People could get hold of all the new products being made, such as cars, radios, vacuum cleaners etc. Cheap credit People could borrow money to buy shares. This was called Buying on the Margin. People could have shares but only pay 20% of the price. When the value of shares went up they sold them and paid back what you borrowed. Tariffs America put tariffs on foreign goods. This was a tax, so British and other imported goods cost more money. This meant people bought American goods. American companies gained profits and employed more people in the short run. Tariffs Because more people were buying American goods, American companies needed more workers to make them. This created more jobs and these people were better off. Share Ownership A Share is a part of a company. People who own a share may get paid a dividend if the company is doing well As companies were doing well share owners got paid dividend, so they had money to spend on things. Share Ownership Across the 1920s the price of shares went up 300%. People who owned shares could sell them and make lots of money, which they could spend on themselves and feel better off.

5 Life in prohibition America. Task 2: Learn this. What was Prohibition The 1919 Volstead Act brought in Prohibition. Americans were not allowed to buy, sell or import alcohol. This law was brought in because many Americans blamed social problems, like violence and family break up, on alcohol. The Anti- Saloon League supported politicians if they agree to vote for Prohibition. The trouble was 50% of Americans still wanted to drink but had no way of doing it legally. This created a chance for criminals, who supply alcohol. Moonshine and Bootlegging Bootlegging is the smuggling of illegal alcohol in to America. Whisky was often smuggled from Canada, while rum was brought in from the West Indies. Moonshine is illegally brewed spirts. No one controlled the quality people died drinking bad moonshine each year. Speakeasies and Gangsters Only Criminals could now sell alcohol. Lots of people wanted alcohol so gangsters could sell it for high prices. Speakeasies were illegal bars. There were 200,000 across the USA. Some were shacks, some were up market clubs. Gangs fought to control the alcohol trade. So much money could be made selling illegal alcohol that the gangsters had lots of money to bribe the police and judges. 1 in 10 Prohibition Agents men whose only job was to stop alcohol -were sacked for taking bribes. Al Capone ran a gang in Chicago. He employed 1000 armed men to collect protection money, attack other gangs, smuggle alcohol and guard speakeasies. He earned $60-$100 million a year. His gangsters fought other gangsters for control of Chicago. In four years 227 people were murdered and no one was arrested. On St Valentine s Day 1929 his gangsters killed 6 men of his rival, Bugs Moran s gang. Al Capone tried to keep a good public image. He hinted he was just selling people what they wanted. He ran a soup kitchen for the unemployed. Damon Runyon who wrote Guys and Dolls - organised his publicity. He presented Capone as a loveable rogue not a ruthless gang leader, so that people wouldn t want the police to go after him. THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I HAVE LEARNED ARE:

6 Mind Map Task 3 America during Prohibition

7 Life During the Depression Business failures In 1929 the American Share Market collapsed. Shares were worth very little. This started a far bigger slump in trade. Around the world people had less money to spend. As they had less money to spend they bought less. As they bought less firms went out of business. Between ,000 business went bankrupt in America. People have less money Less goods are demanded by people People have more / less So factories make less money to spend. goods & sack workers Unemployment Unemployment goes up / down As businesses were selling less, they needed less workers. By million [25%] of workers were unemployed. The Americans offered very little in the way of dole payments. The unemployed found it hard to pay for food, clothes and housing. Many turned to Soup Kitchens, free hand outs of basic food. Those in work suffered pay cuts. The average wage fell from $28 to $22 a week. Bank Failures In the 1920s the government did not put many rules on banks. Banks lent money to many people because they thought they would always get paid back. When the Depression came many banks had loaned to bad risk customers and ordinary people suddenly out of work. The bad banks collapsed as they could not get the money back. This lead to panic and some good banks failed as people demanded all the money they had back at the same time. When the bank failed people lost most of their savings. Homelessness Unemployed and low paid people found it very hard to pay their rent or mortgage. Many ended up having to leave their homes. 250,000 Americans were homeless during the Depression. Others built Hoovervilles. A Hooverville was a shack that people made from scrap. The problem for homeless people was that if they did not have a home, employers were less likely to give them a job if a job became available. Homeless people also suffered more from illness and were more often the victims of crime.

8 Question: In what year did the Wall Street Market Crash? Answer: 1929