U.S. History from 1865 to 1945 - Essay Example

R.Preeti 3/6/2007 U.S. History--1865 to 1945 a) What political events led to the passage of the XIX Amendment andwomen's right to vote The nineteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America deals with Women Suffrage. This amendment was proposed on June 4, 1919 and was ratified on August 18, 1920. It talks about the equality between both the sexes in the electoral processes of the United States. In concern with this important event that establishes the Right of Women to exercise their Vote in determining the selection of their leaders, some political precedents can be cited as the causes that spurred this amendment.

Initially, numerous activists started off by staging protests and other activities in support of Women Suffrage being made legal. However, it was not taken rather seriously. President Woodrow Wilson did support this amendment; but it did not win the support of the Senators. Later on, on being voted against in the election of 1918, the Congress Senators supported the concept of Women Suffrage. In May, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment and after a couple of weeks, the Senators too followed suit.

The amendment was later ratified on August 18, 1920. b) How did mass consumption and the media contribute to the new "commercialism" fueling a major credit expansion Commercialism refers to the great financial attachment to every commodity or asset. It is also inclusive of intangible assets like beauty, happiness, etc. During the years of the Great Depression, the greater financial attachment to the facets of the American Dream that was conceived, began to manifest itself.

The extremely high levels of consumption of goods and services, beginning to manipulate economic prosperity for real happiness and greater attachment of value to money and tangible assets led to what is known as commercialism and credit expansion. The media, in turn fuelled the increasing levels of consumption by attaching brand names, high brand values, promotion of goods and in infusing this image of attaining real bliss if the goods and services were purchased.

Due to the higher purchasing sprees, credit expansion occurred, due to the decrease in cash utilization and availability. References Website: http://encarta.msn.com/related_1741500821_39.118/SPAM.html Website: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment19/