To what extent should the 1920’s in America be remembered as good times or bad times? After World War one and the Treaty of Versailles, America became an isolationist. This meant they isolated themselves from all the other countries and didn’t get involved in other countries problems, America decided to take care of her own problems. During the 1920’s the USA became the richest and most powerful country in the world as a massive economic boom had occurred. However in 1929 disaster struck as banks went bust and share prices hit rock bottom.The roaring twenties, the age of excess and the Jazz age.
Since its declared independence in the late 1700s, the United States has become one of the most industrialized nations in the world. This was caused by major changes that occurred in society between 1890 and 1920. Social changes included the spike in gangs and tenements, along with changes in the role of African Americans Political reform also took place as a result of social change. Along with social and political change came economic change, which took the shape of legislation such as the Anti Trust laws, which increased exports in the United States between 1870 and 1920. Industrialization also caused an increase in urbanization.
John D. Rockefeller used his political and legal power, brought on by his great wealth, to increase his monopoly, buying out small companies to decrease competition, and forcing railroads to favor his corporation. As a consequence of these actions, the government sought to rein in his power by enacting the Sherman Antitrust Act, forever changing the laws by which corporations comply. Standard Oil not only encouraged more railroads being built near production factories, but the entire oil industry has had significant impact on our environment. According to the text “Standard Oil Trust and its successor companies have contributed between 4.7 and 5.2 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.” By the widespread use of high-quality kerosene brought on by Rockefeller, population’s entire lifestyles forever changed, too. People were free to enjoy activities after sundown, work into the night, and be increasingly productive.
In the years 1890-1914 in America, big businesses had a great impact on the growth of the economy. By the 1890 America was a booming economy due to the Steam Revolution of the 1830’s to the 1850’s, and the railroads supporting the growing US economy. Other factors are a huge number of unskilled and semi- skilled labour, talented entrepreneurs and the government willing to aid at all levels to stimulate economic growth. There are many factors suggesting that it was due to the rise of big businesses. One of them being that big businesses dominated the American economy, due to the chance of vertical integration.
Hanna played a major role in the development of the big businesses in American politics which led to a solid platform of Republican success. He helped build the career of William McKinley, first by starting as a governor and then a presidential candidate. One way he did this was by employing 1400 Republican campaign workers to send out letters to voters. He was the starting point for the political victory of McKinley in the 1896 Elections due to his high political aspirations and ideas. One of the main reasons why the Republicans overshadowed the Democrats was due to the financial support of big businesses.
Roosevelt and his “new deal” era paved the way for the revolutionary conversion of the federal government and the country in general. The interventionist in Roosevelt resulted in the nation suffering the wraths of Great Depression with the economy specifically feeling the implications. These include the undeniable market crash, employment plunge, a sluggish foreign trade, flourishing of devaluation and failure of the banking system. The above irrefutable condition which struck America was concretely presented and discussed by Amity Shlaes in her 2007 book entitled “The Forgotten Man: A
In 1914 Germany had become the most powerful economic and military in Europe. The economy boomed and they were ready for war. "On the first day of the war, the German Reichsbank, like the other central banks of the belligerent powers, suspended redeemability of its notes in order to prevent a run on its gold reserves." (Sennholz) In an effort to keep taxes low the government preferred to borrow the needed amounts of money to finance the war. "A growing percentage of government debt thus found its way into the vaults of the central bank and an equivalent amount of printing press money into people's cash holdings."
One of these included the massive growth of conservatism through the US, and increasing business influences. The main strength would be the growing influence of Mark Hanna, who used his growing wealth to bolster republican campaigns. He also used his business, which included coal, iron and steel, to the republicans’ advantage, which he joined in the 1860s. Hanna invested his own money into the campaigns and raised huge sums. Not only did the strengths of the Republicans help increase their dominance, but also the
The Wall Street Crash in America in 1929 had a great impact on Europe in the subsequent years. It left countries with stockpiles of unsold goods along with the production of goods being greatly reduced resulting in unemployment soaring to extremely high levels and also leading to many national financial crises. Britain and Germany were two of the key European economies which both had extremely high levels of unemployment. In the British case the high levels of unemployment were mainly due to intensely severe deflation which was induced by the authorities. They wanted to depress prices and rise the value of the pound to what it was compared to the dollar before the war.
The populist movement was a period in history where America was plagued with a lot of corruption and economic issues. The gold standard was causing deflation, the farmers were trying to gain political power, many businesses were being monopolized, and so much more. The gold standard was one of the biggest debate points of the election of 1896. William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate, was a large supporter of free silver. Free silver, if put into the economy, would most likely cause inflation and help the farmers.