Unit 7A General Questions

Progressives

  1. What were the key reform "impulses" that characterized progressivism?
  2. What contribution did the Social Gospel movement make to progressivism?
  3. Why did so many upper- and middle-class women become progressives?
  4. What role did Margaret Sanger play in challenging gender restrictions in the early 20c?
  5. What were the principal arguments for and against women's suffrage?
  6. What were some of the progressive reforms pushed by organized labor?
  7. What were Teddy Roosevelt's assumptions about the proper role of government, especially with regard to economic concentration?
  8. Identify the major laws passed during T. R.'s administration which effectively expanded the regulatory powers of the federal government.
  9. What changes did T. R. initiate in the traditional role of the federal government regarding labor disputes? How did he deal with the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902?
  10. What was Roosevelt's program for the conservation of natural resources? Who were the sources of opposition to this program?
  11. What role did Speaker of the House, "Uncle Joe" Cannon, play in the fragmentation of the Republican party by 1910? What other issues aided in this fragmentation?
  12. Why did T. R. break from the Republicans to form the Progressive [Bull Moose] Party in 1912?
  13. What were the key issues of the Progressive [Bull Moose] Party platform in 1912? What did T. R. mean by a "New Nationalism?"
  14. Identify the main points of Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom."
  15. Explain the philosophical contest between the "New Freedom" and the "New Nationalism in the 1912 presidential campaign?
  16. What were the provisions of the Clayton Antitrust Act? How did it benefit labor?
  17. What was the purpose of the creation of the Federal Trade Commission?
  18. How does the Federal Reserve System work? Why is it considered to be one of the important domestic achievements of Wilson's administration?
  19. Why did Wilson oppose women's suffrage?
  20. After the initial spate of New Freedom legislation, why did Wilson back away from reform? What led him later in his first term, to advance reform once again?

World War I

  1. Trace the evolution of President Wilson's position on how America should deal with the conflagration in Europe.
  2. What were the basic principles of "Wilsonianism?"
  3. What were the points made by anti-war advocates in the peace movement?
  4. How did the German U-Boat campaign affect US public opinion and actions?
  5. Why were more Americans sympathetic to the Allied side in the war?
  6. What were the reasons for the US going to war that President Wilson enumerated in his speech to Congress on April 2, 1917?
  7. How did the United States raise the troops necessary for the massive war effort?
  8. What roles did women and African Americans play in the military? How were African-American troops treated?
  9. On what two methods did the Wilson administration depend to finance the war effort? How did the war cost compare with the typical peacetime budgets of that era?
  10. How did the Wilson administration organize the wartime economy? List the government boards responsible for the economy during World War I?
  11. Why were there labor shortages at this time? How was this problem resolved?
  12. What role did the Committee on Public Information play during World War I? What tactics did they employ to propagandize the American people into unquestionable support of the war effort?
  13. How did President Wilson confront radicalism abroad immediately following World War I?
  14. What was the diplomatic philosophy that President Wilson brought to the Paris Peace Conference?
  15. What obstacles did Wilson face in getting the European leaders to accept his approach to peace? What domestic development weakened his position?
  16. Identify the main provisions of the Versailles Treaty. What were its main weaknesses?
  17. What were the political divisions within Congress regarding the ratification of the Versailles Treaty? What issues led to the failure to ratify it?
  18. How much of the blame for the Treaty's defeat must be laid on Wilson himself?
  19. Why didn't World War I "make the world safe for democracy?"
  20. Why was the Versailles Treaty a great disappointment? How did it create as many problems as it solved?
  21. How were labor unions treated during World War I?
  22. What was the economic and social impact that the war's end had on women, African-Americans, labor unions, and radicals?
  23. How did African-American military and industrial contributions during the war raise black aspirations? How did whites react to this?
  24. What inspired the Red Scare of 1919-1920? Was the threat real or imagined?
  25. What did the results of the election of 1920 indicate about the mood of the American people?

Roaring Twenties

  1. What social forces combined to disenchant many intellectuals and give them the label of "The Lost Generation?"
  2. How did the arts reflect the values of the 1920s? How did they challenge those values?
  3. How was the "Flapper" reflective of those challenges?
  4. Why was the term "Jazz Age" often used to describe the 1920s?
  5. Identify the key black writers of the Harlem Renaissance. What were some of the important literary themes of these writers? How was it a "rebirth?"
  6. What changes took place in the way Americans used their time during the 1920s?
  7. What were the effects of Prohibition? How did criminals like "Scarface" Al Capone take advantage of it?
  8. What were the changes in immigration laws brought about the National Origins Act and subsequent legislation? What ethnic groups were favored?
  9. How did the resurrected Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s differ from the Reconstruction-era Klan? How influential was this new Klan?
  10. Compare and contrast the views of the modernists and the fundamentalists. How did Darwinism and the Scopes trial symbolize the conflict between the two?
  11. Describe the political scandals in the Harding administration.
  12. Why did Herbert Hoover push so strongly for the creation of trade associations?
  13. How did Coolidge establish the "Coolidge prosperity?"
  14. Identify the candidates and the issues of the 1928 presidential election. Why did Governor Al Smith of NY lose?
  15. Make a list of the long-term causes of the great stock market crash of 1929. What was the "last straw?
  16. How did the weakness of consumer demand contribute to the severity of the depression?
  17. What impact did domestic debt factors have on the American economy?
  18. What role did U. S. policies on trade and international debt play in worsening economic conditions?
  19. What weaknesses in banking helped lead to the Great Depression? What happened to the banking system early in the Depression?
  20. What happened to the banking system and GNP in the three years after the stock market crash of 1929? What economic statistic best represents the human costs of the depression?