美国英语介绍 第五部.pptVIP

* * Chapter 16 Economic Development After the Civil War Science and technology played a very important role in America’s industrial development. Monopoly by big business became a strong trend A mushroom growth of cities (urbanization of America) Social reform The Muckrakers’s exposure of the dark sides of the seeming prosperous society and the Progressive Movement [进步主义运动 ] The Progressive Movement is a movement demanding government regulation of the economy and social conditions. Pushed by the Progressive Movement, President Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson contributed to the government regulation of economic development and initiated changes from laissez faire, that is, the government should merely preserve order and protect property, leaving the control over the economy to the business people. Mount Rushmore National Memorial Theodore Roosevelt WWI and the United States President Wilsons proclaimed neutrality and the actual pro-Ally policy Germany’s plot with Mexico and America’s involvement in the War The Paris Conference and the Big Four (the United States, Britain, France and Italy) President Wilson’s Fourteen Points The Versailles Treaty System in Europe and the Washington System in Asia The Big Four With the war over, Americans wished to forget Europes troubles and return to the good old days. Congress rejected Wilsons call for participation in the League of Nations. The nation turned inward again. This complacency remained unchallenged until Hitlers grab for European domination some 20 years later. Roaring Twenties At the beginning of the 1920s, the United States was converting from a wartime to peacetime economy. When weapons for World War I were no longer needed, there was a temporary stall in the economy. After a few years, the country prospered. In this decade, America became the richest nation on Earth and a culture of consumerism was born. The 1920s went by such names as the Jazz Age, the Age of Intolerance, an