Test Preview: 1920s-Great Depression-New Deal

Test Preview
The exam will be based on readings, discussions, PowerPoints, and lectures related to the 1920s and Chapter 24. This means that the exam will cover US history in the 1920s-1930s.

Part I – Multiple Choice Questions.
You will be given sixteen questions. This section should take ten minutes and is worth 29 percent of your test grade.

Part II -- Identifications.
From a list of five terms, you will be asked to identify four in several sentences. These terms will be drawn from the terms sheets provided for the chapter and from our discussions. This section should take about fifteen minutes and is worth 33 percent of your test grade.

Part III – Short Answer Questions.
You will be given eight questions and asked to answer seven of them in a concise, but thorough manner. These questions will emphasize a bit of analysis, but primarily explanation. This section should take thirty minutes and is worth 38 percent of your test grade.

Topics to review for the test:

1) 1920s. What kind of relationship emerges between business and government? Who was Warren G. Harding and what characterized his presidency? Discuss the social and political effects of the growing anti-immigration sentiments. What was the Harlem Renaissance? What ideas developed in connection with the movement? Explain the significance of the Scopes Trial.

2) Great Depression. What were the causes of the Great Depression? How did the Great Depression affect the American economic system? How did Americans respond to the Great Depression? Why? How did the Hoover administration attempt to deal with the economic and human crises of the Great Depression? How effective were these endeavors? How were they received? What was the Dust Bowl and how does it correlate to the Great Depression?

3) The New Deal. What was the theoretical foundation of the First New Deal? The Second? Explain the aims and accomplishments of alphabet agencies, especially AAA, CCC, FERA, and NRA. Explain the aims and accomplishments of Second New Deal programs: Social Security, WPA, and Wagner Act. How did the New Deal affect labor? How did the New Deal affect African Americans? How and why did the Democratic coalition change in this era? What kinds of criticisms were leveled against the New Deal? How did these alter its course? How did the New Deal change the relationship between the federal government and American citizens? What are the legacies of the New Deal?

4) Differences. American experience varies based on gender, class, race, ethnicity, occupation, and location. Demonstrate awareness of these dissimilarities in your response.