Preview

The Reasons for American Economic Prosperity in the 1920's

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1091 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Reasons for American Economic Prosperity in the 1920's
Why was there economic prosperity in American in the 1920's?

I know that America on it's surface was prosperous during the 1920's. I know this because of the physical signs, and the evidence I have found supporting this concept. Some of the physical signs of the then prosperity are evident today, like the skyscrapers and Empire State building. There were the inventions of manufactured fabrics and materials such as Bakelite, artificial silk and Cellophane. Airlines carried almost half a million passengers a year, which compared to Europe at the same time, was a massive number of people. In this essay I will analyse all the reasons behind the economic prosperity in 1920.

World War 1 assisted America's latter prosperity. Throughout the war American industry benefited, because countries that couldn't buy goods from Europe, did so from America. And along with this Europe bought products from America, products that they weren't producing while they were fighting. Furthermore, during the First World War, American banks lent money to their European Allies. In the 1920's, this was being paid back with interest. The war had also led to advances in technology, such as mechanism and manufactured materials. Production of Iron Ore, coal, petrol and wheat and exportation of chemicals, wheat, iron and steal all had increased considerably by the end of the war. By the end of the war, America had decided to isolate itself from the problems of Europe, and set itself about making the most profit in business. This isolationism built up the confidence of the American people.

An increase in personal wealth, demand and output production all helped America's prosperity. Banks were eager to lend money to businesses and individual's. With this easy money, and the introduction of hire-purchase schemes, the demand for products increased. Consumer spending was incredibly high, which is reflected in the statistic that in 1920 there were 312 department stores, and by 1929 there were

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    It can be argued that the impact of the 1st World War was important on the economy, especially employment. This is a strong argument because during the war employment increased to an extent where 1.3 million jobs were created. It could be argued that this was due to America’s neutrality to the war until April 1917 causing the USA not to have any war damage and this changed America’s economy as they replaced Britain and London as the USA and New York became the Financial Centre of the world. This shows that the economy was strengthened due to impact of the 1st World War.…

    • 617 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1920's Negative Aspects

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The 1920’s was an era in which the economy had greatly prevailed. Many Americans benefited from these positive perks that is offered. It has seemed almost good to be true. However there were a few detrimental aspects of it that made it unbearably difficult to live in. Many different groups of Americans were affected differently some were very positive and some were negative.…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Depression

    • 3017 Words
    • 13 Pages

    economy was also reliant upon luxury spending and investment from the rich to stay afloat during the 1920's. The significant problem with this reliance was that luxury…

    • 3017 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap U S History 1920's

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Roaring Twenties is traditionally viewed as an era of great economic prosperity driven by the introduction of a wide array of new consumer goods. The North American economy, particularly the economy of the US, transitioned from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy; the economy subsequently boomed. The United States augmented its standing as the richest country in the world, its industry aligned to mass production and its society acculturated into consumerism. In Europe, the economy did not start to flourish until 1924.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the 1920's, four of America's leading industries began to struggle. First, railroads had difficulties because of the growing competition from cars, trucks, and busses. Second, textiles floundered because of the foreign competition from India, China, Japan, and Latin America. Furthermore, the revolutionary…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1920s was a time of big developments and changes for America. With new time and money saving ideas like mass production; homes being filled with new household appliances and gadgets like radios, fridges and vacuum cleaners, and a boost in the entertainment industries with the American people falling in love with the talkies, it was not a surprise that the economy sky rocketed with its gross national product rising from $78 billion to $103 billion. Nevertheless, they weren’t all winners and parts of the economy did face problems and suffer as a direct result of the economic boom.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War I changed America greatly. It had an obvious effect on the way we handle business on the home front. Propaganda, rationing, and political views all played a part on American citizens in World War I.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    America was not prosperous or united during the 1920’s. Although there were reasons to show that The United States were prosperous during this time, there are stronger arguments and ‘harder’ evidence to show that most of population were neither prosperous nor united. These arguments are, the collapse of the American economy in the late 1920’s and the countries economical situation, prohibition and the truth in society a large part of this being racism.…

    • 1687 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prior to the age of industry, 1865-1920, products were made by hand. Most businesses were owned by one or two people. The industrial revolution was the time period when products were made by machine rather than by hand. There were many causes of the growth of industry. In addition, there were many effects of the growth of industry . the age of industry was a turning point in american history.…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This growing divisiveness amongst Americans in today’s comes as a result of a backlash against the liberals and the liberal ideals of the past few decades following Ronald Reagan’s presidency. With standards placed on societal norms and values in the recent past by political beliefs of the left, which held a strong influence on the American people, it would appear that people now, similar to the 1920s era, are again trying to break these norms as they begin to think and act for themselves. For example, as cited in the article, statues of former heroes and heroines were scrutinized by many American, as a result of their “wrongdoings,” despite all the actions and risks they took to shape America and the way it is today. It is those people who…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The U.S entry into World war one was extremely important for the allies. It is fair to say that without the Americans, the allies might have lost Paris and therefore lost the war. Their superior economy gave the allies and almost unlimited chain of supplies, ammunition and most importantly men. The effect was not just physical though. The morale of the German troops dropped greatly and mutinies and desertion was rife in their army, giving them one option, to retreat from the allies swarming fresh armies. The immediate impacts that its entry brought about were on morale and naval warfare.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1920s were a huge decade in terms of innovations. It quickly grew and gained popularity. One of the biggest innovations were airplanes. Airplanes and the aviation industry changed and transformed in the 1920s. Prior to World War One, airplanes were really rare. World War One hastened the development of bettered, longer lasting airplanes. After the war, people see a change and America sees a mass production of airplanes. The continual development of airplanes really helped America’s success back in the 1920s. The further development of airplanes benefited America as they see the increase of money flow through these innovations, gave and allowed people to travel around the world, and lastly it made traveling easier in the air rather than…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    New industries contributed to the boom as they expanded the market with goods which were cheaper and better which made the lives of the American people easier and better. These came as a result of developments in technology. Products like radios were sold and in 1920 the USA’s first radio station ‘KDKA’ was created and by 1930 40% of all homes in the USA had a radio set. This highlights how important products like the radio were to the American people and with such a large amount of people buying the products the economy would grow significantly.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many factors that contributed to America’s economic boom in the 1920’s. Resources where essential at this time in USA, this was because many new products and items were being produced for the consumer. Natural resources like coal; minerals, oil and land were in great store and were a great help as a basis for further expansion. The First World War was another factor as the USA supplied Europe with many goods during this time and even overtook the European overseas markets. Technological change was hastened during the war and is another factor to USA’s boom. Technological developments like new automatic switchboards, glass tubing, conveyer belts, concrete mixers and electricity helped modernise existing industries and develop new ones. This new technology led to the production of consumer goods like refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and radios. This started the factor of mass marketing. Goods could be produced more and more cheaply on a large scale; this meant that these produced items could be sold much cheaper therefore more would be sold.…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The years following the devastating war take place prior to 1920 and fortunately left the United States unharmed. The United States was therefore able to experience a decade of peace and prosperity following one of the most devastating wars. One of the reason’s America was able to prosper was because technology played a vital part in bringing the economic and culture prosperity that America experienced in the 1920’s. New advancements, new inventions and the discoveries improved American lives in numerous ways.…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays