Lesson 2: 1920s- A Decade of Conflict

Lesson 2: 1920s- A Decade of Conflict

1920s- A Decade of Change

-Americans experienced increased wealth, consumerism, leisure time and new forms of entertainment that led to a "Jazz Age"

- By 1920, more people lived in cities than in rural areas.

Increased wealth and leisure time

Open Ended

What sort of new forms of entertainment do you think the people in the cities in the 1920s enjoyed with their newly acquired "Free"/Leisure time?

Rural America

Most rural Americans could not understand the changes that were happening in the cities and often viewed them as "un-American" or not Christian-like.

Prohibition

The 18th Amendment- Made it illegal to produce and distribute alcohol in the United States.

- The Christian Women's Temperance Union had enough influence in politice to secure the 18th Amendment's passage.

1920- 18th Amendment Ratified

-The Volstead Act outlawed the sale and manufacture of alcohol.

- Rural American's liked this because they believed that drinking led to crime and other social problems.

Volstead Act

The US Treasury Department was responsible for enforcing the Volstead Act.

During Prohibition, Alcohol consumption declined.

Open Ended

Based on what you know about the 1920s, how do you think people responded to the 18th Amendment in the cities?

Urban Americans Resist Prohibition

- Drinking was a cultural norm for many immigrants.

- Many urban Americans wanted to enjoy themselves in illegal bars called "speakeasies".

Bootlegging

Demand for illegal alcohol led to a rise in smuggling ("Bootlegging"), moonshining, crime, death, blindness, paralysis, and lack of respect for the law

Organized Crime

The Mafia took control of the alcohol trade by resorting to gang killings like the St. Valentines Day Massacre in 1929.

- The most notorious mobster Al Capone controlled the alcohol trade in Chicago.

End of Prohibition

- By the end of the 1920s, only 19% of Americans supported prohibition.

- The strongest defenders of prohibition were still rural Americans.

- Most Americans believed that prohibition caused more problems than it solved.

- The 21st Amendment was ratified in 1933 to repeal prohibiton.

Multiple Choice

What ended national prohibition?

• 18th Amendment

• Prohibition

• Volstead Act

• 21st Amendment

Multiple Choice

Who was the gangster who dominated the illegal liquor trade in Chicago through blackmail, bribery, and murder?

• Billy Sunday

• Al Capone

• Aimee Semple McPherson

• Lucky Luciano

Multiple Choice

What established federal penalties for the manufacture and sale of alcohol?

• Prohibition

• 18th Amendment

• Volstead Act

• 21st Amendment

Multiple Choice

What were secret, illegal clubs that served alcohol?

• flappers

• prohibition

• bootleggers

• speakeasies

Multiple Choice

What is the motivation to prohibit alcohol in this poster?

• It can prevent suicide.

• It will limit neglect and child abuse.

• It will stop men from spending too much money at bars.

• It will limit domestic abuse and divorce.

Multiple Choice

What is the motivation to prohibit alcohol in this poster?

• It can save on court costs by reducing violence.

• It will limit neglect and child abuse.

• It will stop men from spending too much money at bars

• It will lead to more productivity at work

Multiple Choice

What is the motivation to prohibit alcohol in this poster?

• It can prevent suicide

• It will prevent abuse and neglect

• It will prevent boating accidents

• It will lead to more productivity at work

Multiple Choice

Which of the following represents the best definition for temperance movement?

• a widespread effort by few people to increase the consumption of alcohol

• a widespread effort by many people to reduce the consumption of alcohol

• a widespread effort by many people to reduce the consumption of tobacco

• the fight for equal rights such as education,voting, and workplace rights for women

Multiple Choice

Which of the following represents the best definition for temperance movement?

• a widespread effort by few people to increase the consumption of alcohol

• a widespread effort by many people to reduce the consumption of alcohol

• a widespread effort by many people to reduce the consumption of tobacco

• the fight for equal rights such as education,voting, and workplace rights for women

Intolerance in the 1920s

A New Wave of Nativism

800,000 Southern and Eastern European Immigrants arrived each year in the early 1920s.

- Rural americans thought of immigrants as "un-American," non-protestant, anarchists, socialists, etc.

The Red Scare

- Union Strikes and growth of Eugene Debs' Socialist Party spread fear of a Russian-style Socialist revolution.

Open Ended

What do you think the cartoonist is trying express here?

The Red Scare

-During the Red scare, immigrants were under attack.

- Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested and charged with robbery and murder.

- They were Italian immigrants and anarchists.

-There was only circumstantial evidence and were still found guilty and executed.

Nativism Influences Congress

Congress passed new immigration restrictions in 1921 and 1924 that created quotas on a maximum number of immigrants who could enter the US each year.

KKK Reborn- 1915

-Inspired by film The Birth of a Nation, and novel The Clansman that portrayed the Ku Klux Klan as hooded avengers and protectors of virtue, the membership of the organization grew and so did its influence.

The KKK promoted traditional “American” values and used violence and fear to attack immigrants,

African Americans, Catholics, Jews, socialists

By 1924, they had 4.5 million members and elected politicians to power

Multiple Choice

Which law began limiting the flow if immigrants when it was passed in 1921?

• National Origins Act
• Emergency Quota Act
• Dawes Act
• Teapot Dome Act

Multiple Choice

Nativism is

• the idea that Native Americans should have more land
• the distrust of immigrants by Americans
• a fear of radical ideas
• hatred of all people by Native Americans

Multiple Choice

One reason for US fears of communism in the 1920's was that

• millions of Bolsheviks were migrating to the US
• the Bolsheviks had taken over Russia during World War I
• a Bolshevik army was sailing to the US
• Bolshevik spies were found in the US government

Multiple Choice

If I am an anarchists I believe:

• that governments are evil and should not exist.
• that governments should make all decisions in order to create an equal society.
• that governments should make decisions about the economy but not about social issues.
• None of the above.

Multiple Choice

One effect of "The Red Scare" was- (6A)

• Women being displaced into secretarial jobs in the North

• The ratification of the 18th amendment in Washington, D.C.

• discrimination against immigrants, especially those believed to be Communists, in the US

• African Americans migrated back to the South for sharecropping jobs

Multiple Choice

The Red Scare was a fear of the spread of _________________

• Nativism

• Communism

• Fascism

• Racism

Multiple Choice

More than likely, the end result of the Sacco and Venzetti trial was a direct result of?

• Nativism
• Increased racial tensions
• Racial prejudice
• All of the above

Multiple Choice

Who were the Palmer Raids meant to find and root out?

• Anarchists

• Communists

• Socialists

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

Who were the Palmer Raids meant to find and root out?

• Anarchists

• Communists

• Socialists

• All of the above

Multiple Select

Showed increased nativism

• Trial of Sacco & Vanzetti

• Scopes Trial

• KKK Parade

• Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924

Religious Differences

Religious Fundamentalism

Rural Americans found comfort in religious fundamentalism- a literal interpretation of the Bible.

- Rural people rejected Urban/City values, especially immigrants and flappers.

-Evangelists used radio to broadcast Christian messages across the country.

Anti-Evolution Movement

- Many rural Christians rejected ideas that contradicted the Bible and outlawed the teaching of evolution in schools. (You still see schools in Louisiana which will use the phrase "Changes over time" instead.)

-Substitute teacher John Scopes was arrested in Dayton, Tennessee for teaching Evolution in Biology.

The Scopes "Monkey Trial"

- American Civil Liberties Union attorney Clarence Darrow defended scopes; represented Urban America, Science, and Modernity.

-William Jennings Bryan served as prosecutor; represented Christianity and rural values.

The Outcome

Scopes was found guilty, but evolutionists believed they won because Darrow got Bryan to admit that the world might not have been made in six 24 hour days .

Multiple Choice

The ________Trial symbolizes the desire by some to return to religious fundamentalism in the 1920's as the speakeasies, flappers, jazz music, and easy money seemed to defy morality and religion.

• Scopes Monkey
• O.J. Simpson
• Evolution
• all of these

Multiple Choice

The Scopes Monkey trial symbolizes the desire to some to return to _______________ religious values in the 1920s

• traditional
• modern

Multiple Choice

John Scopes was found _________.

• innocent
• guilty

Multiple Choice

Who was the lawyer for the defense?

• John Scopes
• John Ralston
• William Jennings Bryan
• Clarence Darrow

Multiple Choice

Who was the lawyer for the prosecution?

• William Jennings Bryan
• Clarence Darrow
• John Scopes
• John Butler

Multiple Choice

The trial was about whether _______ should be taught in schools?

• reading

• biology

• religion

• evolution

Multiple Choice

The trial was about whether _______ should be taught in schools?

• reading

• biology

• religion

• evolution