AP US History : Identity, Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture 1901–1945
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP US History
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : 1901–1945
“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice...
He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.”
- Seneca Falls Convention, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, 1848
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Women's Rights movement experienced a divide due to differing opinions on which of the following issues?
the Temperance Movement
Isolationism
the Spanish American War
the Fifteenth Amendment
Social Darwinism
the Fifteenth Amendment
By the 1870s, different figures active in the Women's Rights movement were divided over the issue of the Fifteenth Amendment, which ensured suffrage for African American males but did not extend that right to women.
Example Question #1 : 1901–1945
The Age of the Automobile can be viewed from the following perspectives. The first perspective is Henry Ford, his invention of the Model T, and the creation of the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford recognized the demand for the automobile would increase, and used his idea of the assembly line to make automobiles rapidly accessible to the public. Ford hired mechanics who liked to tinker with automobiles to create reliable, low cost, easy to operate, and easy to fix automobiles for the public. The second perspective is the view of the automobile as part of the economic transformation of the 1920s. Ford’s mass production techniques increased worker productivity. His company was able to make more cars available at a reasonable cost. The manufacturing of the automobile led to the demand for products such as steel, rubber, glass, oil, and gasoline to build and operate the automobiles. The automobile also developed a new cultural outlook in America. This perspective became known as the “work to live” philosophy. Individuals who worked long hours, looked forward to the new lifestyle and freedom the automobile gave them. They became more mobile and many Americans moved to the suburbs because the automobile enabled them to commute to work in the cities. Americans began taking extended vacations. This led to the growth of roadside restaurants, service stations and motels. New businesses were developing to support the freedom the automobile gave Americans.
How did the proliferation of automobile ownership effect American society?
all of these
Workers defined their lives by the goods they consumed not the jobs they held.
Personal and immediate gratification led to rising debt and the loss of local community.
Automobile owners had to pay hidden taxes on gasoline and user fees to pay for road improvements.
Automotive crime and accidents became the norm requiring new laws to protect the public.
all of these
The Age of the Automobile coincided with the Roaring Twenties. This was a time of new freedoms brought about by the modern and liberating technology such as the automobile. Americans could now have the freedom to move about and experience new adventures. Workers for the Ford Motor Company worked long hours at repetitive tasks to mass produce the Model T. In recognition of this, Henry Ford lowered the work shifts from 12 to 8 hour days and paid higher hourly wages to his employees. This made the Ford Motor Company the symbol of the modern integrated industrial economy and gave his employees more free time and more money to spend on the new technology of the day. There was a cost to this freedom for society as well. Wild spending on consumer products for the sake of immediate gratification led to large debt. Constant travel and vacations combined with the move to the suburbs resulted in the loss of a sense of community spirit in the cities and the suburbs. Taxes were placed on items used by automobile users, some hidden in the cost of the items, to help pay for the road improvements and as accidents became more frequent, automobile insurance became mandatory and expensive.
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