📚Study Guide: Period 7: 1890-1945
Unit 7: Period 7 (1890–1945)
This unit spans one of the most consequential eras in American history, covering the Progressive Era, World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. It begins with the Progressive movement's response to Gilded Age excesses, as reformers sought to expand democracy, regulate big business, and improve social conditions through muckraking, legislation, and constitutional amendments. America's entry into World War I (1917) marked its debut as a global military power, though postwar disillusionment led to rejection of the League of Nations and a retreat into isolationism. The 1920s witnessed cultural conflict (Scopes Trial, Harlem Renaissance, nativism), economic growth, and rising consumerism, but also deep racial tensions and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. The stock market crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression, the worst economic catastrophe in American history, which Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal addressed through unprecedented federal intervention, reshaping the role of government. The period concludes with American involvement in World War II (1941–1945), the mobilization of the economy and society, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the dawn of the atomic age, which left the United States as a dominant global superpower confronting the Soviet Union.
Key Concepts
- Progressivism: A diverse reform movement addressing corruption (political machines, bossism), economic inequality (trust-busting, regulation), and social justice (women's suffrage, labor protections, temperance); achieved the direct election of senators (17th Amendment), prohibition (18th), and women's suffrage (19th).
- Muckrakers: Journalists like Upton Sinclair (The Jungle), Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil), and Lincoln Steffens (urban corruption) who exposed societal problems and galvanized reform.
- Wilsonian Progressivism and WWI: Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom attacked trusts and banking; U.S. entry into WWI justified as "making the world safe for democracy"; war mobilization expanded federal power (War Industries Board, Committee on Public Information).
- Post-WWI Isolationism: Senate rejection of the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations; Red Scare and Palmer Raids; immigration restrictions (Emergency Quota Act 1921, National Origins Act 1924).
- Great Depression Causes: Stock market speculation, bank failures, overproduction, agricultural depression, and international debt crises converged to collapse the economy after 1929.
- New Deal: FDR's programs divided into Relief (immediate aid), Recovery (economic stimulus), and Reform (structural changes); created Social Security, SEC, FDIC, TVA, and legitimized federal responsibility for economic welfare.
- World War II: American mobilization transformed the economy (arsenal of democracy), ended the Depression, drew women and minorities into industrial work, and forced Japanese American internment; the war ended with atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Vocabulary
- Initiative, Referendum, Recall: Progressive-era democratic reforms allowing citizens to propose laws, vote on legislation directly, and remove elected officials.
- Federal Reserve Act (1913): Created a central banking system to regulate currency and prevent financial panics.
- Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): Strengthened antitrust laws and exempted labor unions from being treated as monopolies.
- Fourteen Points (1918): Wilson's blueprint for postwar peace, including self-determination, freedom of the seas, and the League of Nations.
- Great Migration: The massive movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities between 1910 and 1940, driven by economic opportunity and fleeing Jim Crow.
- Harlem Renaissance: A cultural movement in the 1920s celebrating African American artistic, literary, and intellectual achievement (Hughes, Hurston, Du Bois).
- Social Security Act (1935): The cornerstone of the New Deal welfare state, providing old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children.
- Court-Packing Plan (1937): FDR's unsuccessful attempt to expand the Supreme Court to secure favorable rulings on New Deal legislation.
Historical Cause-Effect Relationships
- Cause: Progressive muckraking exposed dangerous working conditions, political corruption, and unsafe consumer products. Effect: Legislative responses including the Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act, and state-level labor protections.
- Cause: Unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany and the Zimmerman Telegram. Effect: American entry into World War I in 1917, which tipped the military balance but also expanded federal censorship and suppression of dissent (Espionage and Sedition Acts).
- Cause: Overproduction in agriculture and industry, speculative stock buying on margin, and weak banking regulation. Effect: The stock market crash of 1929 and the cascading collapse of banks, businesses, and employment that defined the Great Depression.
- Cause: New Deal programs expanded federal authority over the economy, banking, agriculture, and labor relations. Effect: A fundamental shift in American political economy, establishing the expectation that the federal government should manage economic stability and provide a social safety net.
Common Mistakes
- Describing the New Deal as ending the Great Depression; while it provided relief and reform, full economic recovery did not occur until World War II mobilization.
- Assuming Progressives were unified; they included diverse and sometimes contradictory groups (southern white supremacists, labor activists, middle-class reformers, prohibitionists).
- Confusing the causes of American entry into WWI; while submarine warfare was the immediate trigger, economic ties to the Allies and cultural affinities also mattered.
- Overlooking the limitations of the New Deal for African Americans and women; many programs discriminated or excluded these groups, even as they benefited millions of white Americans.
AP Exam Strategies
- DBQ Tip: For New Deal or Progressive documents, analyze whether the source represents a middle-class reformer, a labor radical, a corporate opponent, or a government official—perspective matters enormously.
- SAQ Strategy: If asked about WWII home front, mention specific groups (Rosie the Riveter, Bracero Program, Japanese American internment) and their divergent experiences.
- LEQ Formula: "The period 1890–1945 witnessed a transformation in the federal government's role from [limited 19th-century role] to [active manager of economy/society], driven by [Progressivism/WWI/New Deal/WWII]."
- Contextualization: Place the Progressive Era in the context of Gilded Age excesses, or connect the New Deal to long-term debates over laissez-faire versus government intervention dating to Hamilton and Jefferson.
Comparisons and Continuities/Changes
- Comparison: Progressive reformers sought to use government to regulate capitalism and protect consumers, whereas New Dealers expanded federal power further to directly manage the economy and provide social insurance, reflecting the lessons of the Depression.
- Continuity and Change: Women gained suffrage in 1920 and entered the workforce in greater numbers during WWII, yet gender norms and occupational segregation persisted, demonstrating that legal changes did not immediately produce social equality.
- Comparison: World War I and World War II both expanded federal power and advanced African American migration northward, but WWII produced more lasting economic and social changes, including the GI Bill and the seeds of the modern civil rights movement through the Double V campaign.