Attached.

American History
I.
II.

Consumerism
What led to the end of the Progressive Era?

III.

Causes of Depression and Responses of President Hoover

IV.

FDR’s Attempts to alleviate the Depression

V.

The end and the Aftermath of WWII


Running head: AMERICAN HISTOY

1

American History
Name
Institution

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American History
Consumerism

In the 1920s, the American people had a lot of prosperity. Therefore consumerism arose
leading to the 20s being referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Consumerism was the idea that
attaining goods as well as services at high amounts was good for the economy. The idea of
consumerism became popular in the 20s due to the advances that had happened in the industry
and other areas of the economy during the war (Schultz, 2013). Therefore, the people of America
shifted from the fear of debts to buying things on credit. Also, business people invested in mass
advertising techniques.
American consumerism happened during the times of Woodrow Wilson. The president
had presided over the involvement of the country in the First World War and the successes that
led to the country seeing itself as invincible, especially after winning the war. Therefore,
Americans thought that spending mindlessly would encourage economic growth. As a result,
about 60% of americans who bought vehicles at the time did it on credit. What led to
consumerism are the advances in manufacturing as well as technology that happened during the
war. America had invested lots of money in innovations that led to large scale manufacturing
suing the factory system. After the war, the factory system was transferred from meeting the
needs of the military to manufacturing goods for consumption. Advances in technology in the
steel and electricity era also enhanced the urge to consume by Americans (Mitchell, 2017). To
promote their products, companies resorted to using mass advertisements strategies such as using
the press to popularize their goods among the people. The lifestyle of the time greatly affected
the saving culture of Americans and promoted extravagance that lasted until the great recession
hit the country.

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References

Mitchell, B. (2017). The Depression Decade: From New Era Through New Deal, 1929-41: From
New Era Through New Deal, 1929-41. Routledge.
Schultz, K. M. (2013). HIST, Volume 2: US History since 1865. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Or
the one you used?

What led to the end of the Progressive Era?
The term progressivism is used to imply to the responses that Americans had for
economic as well as social issues between the late 19th century and the 1920s. Progressivism was
popularized by presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson who saw the start and the
end of the era respectively (Schultz, 2013). The period had several important benefits for
Americans. The benefits included the improved fairness that gave women the power to the
breaking up of trusts by antitrust laws and the rejection of social Darwinism. Despite the many
positive effects of the way of life, it still failed in the 1920s.
One of the reasons for the failure of the progressive era is the fact that not everyone
shared the opinions that were the center of the movement. For example, on the social aspects of
the application of the progressivism that involved the rejection of Darwinism alienated the rich
upper class of the Americans in the consumerism era. During consumerism, people favored
spending. Therefore, those who had more money than other people were better placed to spend
than those who had limited money. It was therefore not possible to have consumerism and
progressivism co-exist as while one was in favor of fairness and equality; it was not considerate

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of the fact that in a capitalist economy the differences among people exist and affect their
spending and lives.
Another issue that caused the fall of progressivism is the fact that President Woodrow
Wilson had used it to justify the entry of the United States of America into the war. According to
the president, entry into the war was important for the growth and protection of democracy in the
world. The war led to the inhumane treatment of people and other negative perceptions that were
then linked to progressivism.
References
Schultz, K. M. (2013). HIST, Volume 2: US History since 1865. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Or
the one you used?

Causes of Depression and Responses of President Hoover
The 1920s were a time of consumerism that was characterized by optimism as well as
growth in very high levels. At the time when Hoover became the president, the growth was
happening at levels like never before (Schultz, 2013). Therefore, the stoke market was similarly
growing at very high levels. Therefore, investors in the country sought to take advantage of the
growth that was apparent to enrich themselves further by buying stocks on credit like it was
common in the people making purchases on credit in the 1920s and pushed the prices of stocks
higher. However, the situation led to the crashing of the stock market in 1929 and a few days, the
value of stocks reduced to almost half and investors lost their billions.
Another reason for the depression that began in 1929 was the bank collapses in Europe
that led to panic, and therefore banks in the United States laid off a lot of people leading to high
rates of joblessness. Also, many people withdrew from their bank deposits leaving the banks

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further unable to do their work and retrenching more people as the depression heightened
(Mitchell, 2017).
President Hoover made attempts to mediate the financial depression only to make the
situation worse through his measures that were not strategically thought. For instance, the
pr...