Not everyone prospered in the USA during the 1920s.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1-4] e.g. 'There was overproduction.'
2. [1-4] 'Farmers could use improved fertilisers and machinery.'
3. [1-4] 'There was a decrease in demand for agricultural products.'
4. [1-4] 'Prices for their products decreased.'
5. [1-4] 'They faced competition from Canada.'
6. [1-4] 'Europe no longer needed so much American agricultural produce.'
7. [1-4] 'They could not repay the loans they had taken out to buy more land and modern machinery.'
8. [1-4] 'Many farmers became bankrupt/unemployed.'
9. [1-4] 'Many farmers had to sell their farms and give up farming.'
10. [1-4] 'Tenant farmers were evicted because they could not pay their rents.'
11. [1-4] 'Demand for the barley they grew fell because of Prohibition.'
12. [1-4] 'Sharecroppers experienced hard times.'
13. [1-4] 'The boll-weevil decimated cotton crops in the South.'
14. [4-5] e.g. 'The main reason traditional industries struggled was because of changes happening in American society and the failure of these industries to adapt to the changes. For example, the coal industry found that it was producing too much coal because demand was going down. This was because electricity could be supplied to more and more homes and factories and so they were changing to this for their energy. Factories and homes were also changing to new sources of energy such as gas and oil.'
15. [2-3] e.g. 'Coal suffered because of the change to other sources of energy like oil, gas and electricity.'
16. [2-3] 'Coal was being used more efficiently and so less was needed.'
17. [2-3] 'The coal industry suffered from cuts in wages, pits being closed and strikes.'
18. [2-3] 'The textile industry was producing too much.'
19. [2-3] 'Synthetic products were replacing textiles.'
20. [2-3] 'As more people owned cars, fewer travelled by the railways.'
21. [2-3] 'Traditional industries could not compete with mass production.'
22. [2-3] 'There was foreign competition in leather and textiles.'
23. [4-6] e.g. 'I agree with this. Republican policies were important. For example, they cut taxes. This gave people more money to spend on all the new consumer goods that were appearing at this time. This boosted the industries making goods like fridges, radios and cars, and this led to more jobs and better wages.'
24. [4-6] OR e.g. 'I think other factors were more important. The introduction of hire purchase was important. This allowed people to buy goods that they could not afford in one go. They were able to pay for the goods by instalments over a period of time. There was no longer any shame attached to this form of buying and millions of Americans used it to buy consumer goods like cars. This created more demand for these industries which then expanded.'
25. [2-3] e.g. 'Republican tax cuts stimulated the economy.'
26. [2-3] 'Less regulation for businesses allowed them to prosper.'
27. [2-3] 'The government followed laissez-faire.'
28. [2-3] 'High tariffs introduced by the government protected American industries.'
29. [2-3] 'There were positive effects from entering World War 1.'
30. [2-3] 'Mass production led to a fall in the prices of many goods.'
31. [2-3] 'There was an increased use of the assembly line.'
32. [2-3] 'The car industry stimulated other industries.'
33. [2-3] 'Hire purchase helped people buy more things.'
34. [2-3] 'Advertising created more demand for goods.'
35. [2-3] 'People wanted more consumer goods like fridges.'
36. [2-3] 'The spread of electricity made the use of equipment like vacuum cleaners and washing machines possible in homes.’