The Roaring Twenties

The 1920s earned its name as “The Roaring Twenties.” It was a time of great change, reform, improvement, adjustment and alteration. American life was speeding up. The people were buying more, having fun, and dreaming big. The economy was not the only thing that was booming as new inventions poured out to enhance life and the social atmosphere was changing. The Jazz Age was in full swing and new dance crazes swept the nation. The economy was booming and the United States was in an economic high point. Everything was changing and moving away from the Progressivism of the past.

The 1920s started with the Prohibition Act. The Act prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction.”# The ban did not work as smugglers found ways around it. Bootlegging became a way to become a millionaire and it gave way to the glory days of gangsterism. This sense of illegal drinking made drinking alcohol more popular than ever.

Also, during this time period, the 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution. It stated that “The right of citizens in the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of gender.”# Women were given the right to vote in time for the 1920 election and their voting power helped Warren Harding become president. Up until this time the ideal role of women was to get married, have kids, and stay home to keep the house in order, and leaving the men to run the country. And now this was all about to change.

The governmental policy of the 1920s changed and were moving toward being very conservative. The government wanted to promote private business and they hoped that prosperity would spread to the rest of the nation. Throughout the 1920s, private business received encouragement. The Transportation Act of 1920, had restored to private management the nation's railways, which had been under government control during the war. The tariff acts of 1922 and 1930 brought