USA essay plans

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question
Explain why the American people rejected the peace treaties negotiated on their behalf by Wilson (12)
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-Wilson (too long in Paris, oblivious. Didn't compromise with Lodge, less skilful, consensual, was ill) -opposition (Senator Borah who led the irreconcilables, Lodge, speeches, republicans, lack of support for L of N by congress) -public opinion (death, Spanish flu, unemployment, inflation, race issues, not interested in europe, wanted to focus on internal issues) Facts -Borah November 1919 speech -50,000 men died -Borah \"a real republic cannot get mixed up in the discordant and destructive forces of the old world\" -Lodge \"you will destroy her power to do good and you will endanger her very existence\" -september 1919. After speech, stroke left him paralysed left side and blind in left eye -died 1924 -Lodge speech Washington dc august 1919 -1918/19 spanish flu -Borah speech important in convincing the senate -Borah \"we have surrendered, once and for all, the great policy of \"no entangling alliances\" upon which this republic has been founded for 150 years\"
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How important was Theodore Roosevelt to the development of American imperialism in the years 1900-1914 (24)
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-Theodore Roosevelt, the panama canal -Theodore Roosevelt, Morocco crisis, Russian Japanese war, Cuba, Platt amendment, Canada/alaska boundary -William Taft, dollar diplomacy -McKinley open door policy, involvement in China, Spanish American war Facts MK 1898 spanish war won and treaty of Paris. Annexation of Guam and the Phillipines -1900 boxer rebellion foreign embassie TR 1901 Platt amendment -Alaska boundary dispute -1903-1914 Panama canal -1904 Roosevelt Collary to the Monroe doctrine, more power to intervene in latin America -1905 morocco crisis -1905 russian Japanese treaty of Portsmouth T 1909 bought houndorous debts -us bank took over Haiti -1912 loans to nicagague took over -1911 j Pierpont morgan railway Manchuria
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How far were the presidents responsible for the development of the us economy in the years 1890-1919? (24)
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-panama Canal, dollar diplomacy and trade (Spanish war etc) helped build up the economy. WW1 trade -Anti- trust acts, federal reserve board helped to monitor the economy to prevent a possible crash -big business and trusts built up the economy by increasing production and trade, although it could be argued the president's laissez faire attitude allowed this to happen -immigration kick started the boost to the economy as it produced the labour needed to increase production and trade Facts -1900-1909 8,202,388 European immigrants -by 1900 population rose to 76 million -1870 millions of tonnes of iron ore produced 1.7 in 1913 31.6 -1893 high protective tariff -Andrew Carnegie steel -J Pierpont Morgan -1913 underwood tariff reduced duties -1913 federal income tax -clayton anti- trust act 1914 -mann act 1903 -hepburn act 1906 -1903-1914 panama canal, cost $352 million -1909 hondorous debts, Haiti -1911 J Pierpont Morgan railway Manchuria -1898 spanish war -1898 annexation of Hawaii, guam and the phillipines
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Explain why some Americans opposed immigration in the period 1890-1920? 12
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-wages and jobs -ghettos and crime -corruption in politics and extreme views Facts -until 1882 only 1 in 50 sent home -1900-1909 alone 8,202,388 european immigrants came to the usa -late 19th century ½ Chicago foreign born -80% ny immigrants or their children -irish and poles in boston and Chicago -tammany hall ny Charles F murphy 1902-1924 -temperence league -paul kelly's Italian 5 pinters in ny -1917 entry to war, question of loyalty -Emma Goldman Jewish Lithuanian anarchist -WASPS -slavic miners used to break up strikes in Pennsylvania -catholic Italians employed on ny subway system
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Why did the USA declare war on spain in 1898? (12)
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-public opinion and the media -economy, they were protecting trade with cuba -military and geography Facts -yellow press Hearst, Pulitzer -new York journal, new York world -Hearst concentration camps up to 20,000 died -1898 distruction of uss maine -encouraged by t Roosevelt (assistant secretary of the navy) -260 killed when maine exploded -general weyler, concentration camps -usa had $50 million invested in cuba sugar and tobacco -86% of Cuban exports went to the usa -control over gulf of mexico, Caribbean and trade with s America good for us trade -owners of big business had lots of influence -cuba only 200km from American coast -it was strategic as its control and would give influence in s America and if panama canal built, cuba even more important -anti-imperialist, their job to help
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Explain why the usa built the panama canal (12)
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-trade, expand trade, cut travel time, get to asia quicker (Roosevelt, big business) -more navy, access to sea, protect island, keep china protected, balance of power -look impressive, dominant on world stage, balance of power Facts -french tried in 1880s but failed -panama puppet state -contril 10km canal zone -1903 panamanians revolt -panama got $10 million from usa -cost usa $352 million -roosevelt got army involved -r said \"by far the most important action I took in foreign affairs during the time I was president\" -1/3 largest navy -dollar diplomacy -presence in sea -hawaii, phippines, control in sa
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How far was immigration the reason for the boom in the economy (24)
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-immigration/labour/Carnegie -technology/steel/transportation -monopolies, trusts/profit -government/prioritise/laissez faire Facts -Bessener process/Carnegie/steel -railroads 1860 30,000 miles, 1900 190,00 mile -carngie steel 332,111 tonnes 1889, 2,663,412 1899 -rockerfeller trusts -1904 biggest 4% produced 57% -j.p morgan 1/6 us railways -carnegie profit $2 million to $40 million -US population increased by 40 million 1890-1913 -1890-1909 11896682 immigrated from europe
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How important was Theodore Roosevelt in the development of progressivism in the years 1900-1920? (24)
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-Theodore Roosevelt, social and financial reform, tried to use the Sherman act to control trusts. Won a victory against northern securities controlling too many railroads -Theodore Roosevelt, conservation -Wilson, underwood tariff and federal reserve act -Wilson, anti-trust legislation -Taft Facts -TR 44 anti-trust prosecutions such American tobacco and standard oil -Mann act 1903 and Hepburn act 1906 made secret rebates where railroads gave preferential prices to big companies illegal -helped break Anthracite strike by offering workers higher wages and 9 hour working day -150 million acres forest placed on federal reserves -strictly enforced grazing, mining and lumbering laws -1908 national conservation committee -WW 1913 underwood tariff reduced tariffs on certain items -1913 federal income tax -federal reserve board, all banks involved 6% capital and surplus to reserve bank -less dependent on gold -reserve bank lend to others at reduced rate, when threatened with inflation, rates increase -1914 federal trade commission -Clayton anti-trust act -Taft 90 trusts prosecuted -T dissolved US steel -took away more private land than Teddy -T protect 8.5 million acres in Alaska
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How important were economic factors in shaping the US foreign policies between 1890-1917
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-economy, open door policy. They wanted access to trade in China and Platt amendment protected that -economy, Cuba and Latin America. Spanish-USA war to protect and expand trade as was panama canal -military, Cuba very close to America and panama canal gave power in Latin America and the sea -public opinion, yellow press, sinking of Maine, concentration camps, Zimmerman telegram Facts -1900 boxer rebellion, sec of state John Hay open door -1901 Platt amendment -1911 J Pierpont Morgan Manchuria railroad -USA $50 million in Cuban tobacco and sugar -86% of Cuban trade with the USA -Panama 1903-1914 -Cuba 200km -1/3 largest navy -Hearst, Pulitzer NY journal, NY world -concentration camps, 20,000 killed -260 USS Maine 1898 -1915 Lusitania sank -1917 Zimmerman telegram
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How far was the foreign policy isolationist in the years 1900 to 1920 (24)
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+rejection of league of nations, didn't join war to end after perceived threat to USA +avoiding conflict such as world war one until a direct threat to the USA -becoming involved in world affairs such as Morocco, Japan-Russia, China -trade, dollar diplomacy, Cuba, Panama canal Facts -1900 Boxer rebellion -1903-14 panama -1904 Morocco, Russian-Japanese Portsmouth treaty -1903 panama revolt -1917 entry to WW1 -1909 Honduras debts, Haiti -1912 Nicaragua -1920 league of nations rejected
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Explain why the USA adopted the open door policy? (12)
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-the boxer rebellion, more control to prevent chaos in China and try to limit Japanese expansionism -keep balance of power and prevent expansionism, open door stopped too much European control and Japanese taking over -was to protect and expand trade in China/Asia Facts -1900 boxer rebellion -open door stopped European powers carving up china -stopped Japanese expansion -USA a colony until 1783 -after 1890 economy grew -Carnegie, Vanderbilt -saturated market
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How important was the role Woodrow Wilson in the US decision to go to war in 1917? (24)
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-Wilson, wanted to protect democracy, the Zimmerman telegram broke the Monroe doctrine, public pressure -public opinion, Zimmerman, Lusitania, Belgium, -U-boats, Zimmerman telegram, Russia dropping out of war, trigger events -trade, lent more money to Britain and France and wanted to protect it so stepped in and helped protect their investment -Zimmerman telegram 1917 -Lusitania 1915 128 American passengers killed -Belgium 1914 -1916 U-boats to starve Britain bad for trade, US civilians killed -had lent the allies $2.5 billion -Bolshevik revolution 1917
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Explain why the KKK membership grew in the years 1919-1925?
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-there was really good organization and use of the media -second world war increased anti-foreigner feelings and fears on communism increased -there was increase in immigrant taking jobs, had different culture and black people moving to the north for work -they had the support of senior politicians and nothing was really done to stop them Facts -Edgar Young Clark and Elizabeth Tyler -Fiery cross newspaper -1915 D.W Griffith film birth of a nation -William J Simmons refounded the KKK -1920 100,000 members -1924 4 million members -summer 1919 race riots, black soldiers returning -both Georgia senators and governors of Colorado and Oklahoma were klan sympathisers
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How far was the economic boom in the years 1919-1929 due to immigration? (24)
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-immigrants provided labour to increase production and were willing to work longer hours for less which gave businesses more profit -they provided supply and demand which kept the economy going -there were technical advancement and new production methods which increase profit and maximized production -they weren't damaged by the war and had done a lot of trading with Britain, Germany and France -easy credit and hire purchase meant more goods could be bought. Laissez faire attitude and lack of bank regulation allowed the economy to expand Facts -President Coolidge and secretary of the treasury Andrew Mellon cut government intervention and kept tax low -mass production, Ford by 1914 a car could be made every 93 minutes -price of car went from a cheap $850 to an even cheaper $400 by 1914 -had lent the allies $2.5 billion -1914 exported $40 million worth of munitions to allies -increased to $1290 million in 1916 -Ford hire immigrants on assembly line US population increased by 40 million 1890-1913
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Why did the KKK decline after 1925?
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-bad publicity after David Stephenson was sentenced to 25 years for rape and manslaughter as well as instances of bribery and Fraud -publicity and media less effective after the death of Elizabeth Taylor in 1924, as well as divisions over Hiram Evans tactics -anti-immigrant feelings reduced by introduction of quotas -when public opinion started to turn, politicians were keen to disassociate themselves Facts -David Stephenson grand dragon of Indiana sentenced to 25 years -Elizabeth Taylor died 1924 -1921 quota system meant only 3% of each nationality living in US according to 1910 census could enter -1924 Johnson-Reed immigration act banned immigration from Japan -1924 quota lowered to 2% of national in US at 1890 census -1929 only 150,000 allowed into US, 85% from northern and western Europe -only 200,000 members in 1929
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Explain why Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912
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-Roosevelt split the republican vote enabling the democrats to win -Taft was an inactive president and Wilson looked like the most proactive candidate -different, more isolationist approach to foreign policy Facts -Roosevelt led progressive party (bull moosers) -Taft president 1908-1913 -introduced 8 hour day for government workers -Roosevelt Morocco, Russia-Japan -Taft Nicaragua, Haiti, Hondorous -Taft 23.2%, Roosevelt 27.4%, Wilson 41.8%
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To what extent did the wall street crash cause the great depression? (24)
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-banking problems, poorly regulated and many were independent so relied on own resources -world problems, banking collapses and problems in other countries had an effect on US economy -agriculture, long term problems, low prices, just made worse by wall street crash -industry, overproduction, saturated markets and high tariffs, construction boom ended -the crash, decreased confidence, affected banking sector and business, people spent less Facts -by 1933 5,500 banks failed, due to huge amount of money withdrawn -bank collapse in Austria and Germany 1931 -wheat prices in 1929 were less than half they were in 1920 -1923 Fordney-McCumber tariff -allies no longer ordering wheat -mechanization took away 2 million jobs each year -coalmining, ship building, railroads all stagnating -1929 Hawley-Smoot tariff -US trade was down from $10 billion to $3 billion from 1929-1932 -industrial production dropped by 45% between 1929-1932 -13 million out of work
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Why the Volstead act was introduced
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1-supporters tended to be rural protestants who voted republican 2-big businesses worried about workplace inefficiency 3-WW1 grain needed for food, many brewers were of German origin facts -Volstead act 1919 -1917 lever act banned grain used in making alcohol -big brewers like Ruppert, Pabst and Lieber were German -Rockerfeller corporation and Heinz supported prohibition -1917 dems 152 drys, 81 wet; Rep 140 drys 62 wets -Wilson tried to veto it but big enough majority that congress overruled him
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How successful was prohibition in the years 1919-1929
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S-alcohol consumption dropped, fewer arrests for drunkenness S-fewer workplace accidents and deaths from alcoholism F-gangsters made lots of money, lots of gangland murders and few arrests F-corruption in agents, police and politicians made it hard to enforce F-Bootleggers (chemists), industrial alcohol meant lots of alcohol still being made F-smugglers, huge borders and coast meant alcohol flooded in from Canada and Mexico facts -1/12 agents dismissed for corruption -1920-30 10% agents fined -Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson corrupt -average alc conpt fell 2.6 gallons pppy b 1917 to 1 gall in 1920s -18,700 m coastline + border -1925 only 5% alc intercepted from smugglers -business worth $80 billion -only 3000 agents paid $2500 to shut down $2 billion buis -1927-30 227 gangland murders in Chicago only 2 men convicted -homicide 5.6 per 100,000 in 1900s, 10 per 100,000 in 1920s
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Explain why the Palmer raids took place in 1920
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1-fear of immigrants (eastern Europe), anti immigrant feeling post war, Bolshevik and communist revolution | immigrants associated with extremism/violence | 2-terrorist acts associated with communists/anarchists, bombs sent to Palmer, wall street bombing 3-threat to industry strikes, more strikes after war, Boston police strikes, blamed on immigrants 4-public opinion, Palmer wanted to be president facts -50,000 Americans died in war -1917 Bolshevik revolution -1917 communist revolutions in Hungary, Berlin and Munich -April 1919 36 mail bombs discovered -June 1919 bomb sent to Palmer -1920 31 people killed in Wall street bombing -February 1919 general strike in Seattle -September 1919 75% Boston police force on strikes
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Why were many Americans opposed to immigration in the 1920s
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-immigrants seen as inferior people -immigrants might make jobs scarce, used to break up strikes -immigrants might start a revolution, red scare -immigrants thought to commit serious crimes, prohibition -immigrants make it hard to somewhere to live -the war
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How far did attitudes towards immigration change in 1920s?
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prohibition and organized crime caused people to turn against immigrants -red scare meant people were scared of immigrants -war meant anger at foreigners -limited immigration -immigration from north western Europe still favoured -Mexicans used by Californian farmers
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Why did the USA become more isolationist in the 1920s
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-war changed public opinion -problems at home such as prohibition, radicalism and immigration -Wilson wasn't a good leader, republicans more in tune with public, strong isolationist opposition
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How far was the USA isolationist in the 1920s
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-rejected involvement in the league of nations -economy, Dawes and Young plan reparations -Kellogg-Briand pact, get people to renounce war -Hardy introduced policy of normalacy, and wanted to focus on business
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Which groups didn't benefit from the boom
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-older staple industries such as railways and coalmining were stagnating -farmers, having issues, prohibition and tariffs didn't help -trade unions, red scare, big business, only skilled workers -African americans
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Extra reasons for boom
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-size of USA and wealth -WW1 -technology/Fordism. $5 a day wage, 15 million model T fords made by 1927, helped steel rubber industries -government policy, Fordney McCumber and cut tax of rich from 80 to 20% -easy credit, consumer spending went from $32 billion to $60 billion
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Explain why the republicans were so dominant in the years 1896-1912?
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-electioneering, Mark Hanna posters in 1900 suggesting banking would thrive under McKinley, $16 million, smear campaign -instability of democrats, smear campaign 1893 depression, party influenced by the increased popularity of the populist movement -success within republican party, appealed to big business, success in foreign policy Facts -1900 posters suggesting McKinley would help business -$16 million, $3.5 million came from big business -1893 depression blamed on democrats -populists silver, trade unions, farmer rights
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