Why were some people in the USA better off than others in the 1920s? Explain your answer.
50 marks
The 1920s was the start of great expansion and an increase in prosperity for many including; new industrial workers, women and the rich. America became one of the most powerful countries, especially after the war when laissez faire was introduced. This meant that people could earn profit in any way and the government would not try to disrupt or stop their way of income. This all provoked involvement in entertainment, wealth and goods. It increased the rise in gangsters, flapper, shares, prohibition, electricity and of course credit; which gave this era it prominent name, ‘The Roaring Twenties’. While there were many people in the city who …show more content…
There was no longer a demand for crops after war, cities were thriving with new goods and many people moved to where bigger industries were and processed food was being introduced. This made it difficult to sell as consumers were moving out of rural areas. Even selling products abroad was difficult due to the large tariffs; this meant foreign exports to the USA were very expensive. If Americans did not buy foreign goods, foreigners would earn less and therefore have less money to spend on US foodstuffs. The result was a severe agricultural depression. Farmers were left with a huge amount of crops which no one would want to buy, as they thought that growing crops and lowering the price would eventually bring in more buyers, unfortunately that wasn’t the case so in the end farmers were left with useless produce, however they thought that with laissez faire they could sell some of their wheat and barley for triple the amount to gangsters, because of the recent rule of prohibition, to use for alcohol however this was not a long term solution and didn’t help them much. Source 1 confirms this as it shows a cartoon image of a farmer on his empty crop field looking out to a factory with dollars signs flowing out of the chimneys. On the field there is a sign which says, ‘farm for sale’. This source proves the fact that farms were at loss, as no one brought any of their products. They were unable to pay to keep their crops healthy or look after them, because of all of this, as the source shows, they had to sell their farms to make profit for their own needs as paying to run a farm caused them to be in more financially problems. This source also reinforces that farms did not benefit as the question states and helps broaden reasons why: due to new industries replacing old agriculture and causing it to slowly die out. Although the source is reliable in the
50 marks
The 1920s was the start of great expansion and an increase in prosperity for many including; new industrial workers, women and the rich. America became one of the most powerful countries, especially after the war when laissez faire was introduced. This meant that people could earn profit in any way and the government would not try to disrupt or stop their way of income. This all provoked involvement in entertainment, wealth and goods. It increased the rise in gangsters, flapper, shares, prohibition, electricity and of course credit; which gave this era it prominent name, ‘The Roaring Twenties’. While there were many people in the city who …show more content…
There was no longer a demand for crops after war, cities were thriving with new goods and many people moved to where bigger industries were and processed food was being introduced. This made it difficult to sell as consumers were moving out of rural areas. Even selling products abroad was difficult due to the large tariffs; this meant foreign exports to the USA were very expensive. If Americans did not buy foreign goods, foreigners would earn less and therefore have less money to spend on US foodstuffs. The result was a severe agricultural depression. Farmers were left with a huge amount of crops which no one would want to buy, as they thought that growing crops and lowering the price would eventually bring in more buyers, unfortunately that wasn’t the case so in the end farmers were left with useless produce, however they thought that with laissez faire they could sell some of their wheat and barley for triple the amount to gangsters, because of the recent rule of prohibition, to use for alcohol however this was not a long term solution and didn’t help them much. Source 1 confirms this as it shows a cartoon image of a farmer on his empty crop field looking out to a factory with dollars signs flowing out of the chimneys. On the field there is a sign which says, ‘farm for sale’. This source proves the fact that farms were at loss, as no one brought any of their products. They were unable to pay to keep their crops healthy or look after them, because of all of this, as the source shows, they had to sell their farms to make profit for their own needs as paying to run a farm caused them to be in more financially problems. This source also reinforces that farms did not benefit as the question states and helps broaden reasons why: due to new industries replacing old agriculture and causing it to slowly die out. Although the source is reliable in the