A Clash of Values

Chapter 20, section 1

Nativism

• The 1920s opened with an economic recession, influx of immigrants, and racial and cultural tensions

• Triggered a rise in racism and nativism

Nativism

• Immigration dropped during WWI, but sharply rose again after the war

• Majority of immigration came from southern and eastern Europe

Nativism

• Many Americans viewed immigration as a threat to stability and order

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/Immigrant-1899.jpg

Sacco and Vanzetti Case

• Exemplified prejudices and fears of the 1920s

• Two Italian immigrants executed for a murder in which there was no real evidence against them

KKK

• Revival of the KKK during the 1920s• Targeted groups that threatened “un-

American” values• Spread to Northern cities, grew to over 4

million by 1924• Began to decline due to scandals

involving Klan leaders

Controlling Immigration• After WWI, American policies changed in

response to the recession and nativist pleas• 1921---President Harding signed Emergency

Quota Act, established a temporary quota system limiting immigration

• Discriminated against southern and eastern Europe

Controlling Immigration

• National Origins Act of 1924 made immigration restriction a permanent policy

• Limited immigration to 150,000 a year• Discrimination against southern and

eastern Europe was strengthened

Controlling Immigration

• National Origins Act of 1924 exempted nations in the Western Hemisphere

• Demand for labor in California contributed to a large wave of immigrants from Mexico

The New Morality

• Many groups that wanted to restrict immigration also wanted to preserve traditional values

• They feared a “new morality” was taking over the nation that glorified personal freedom and free thinking

The New Morality

• Challenges---• 1. Women in the workforce and college• 2. Automobile

Women in the 1920s

• Fashion changed in the 1920s• Women shortened their hair and wore

shorter clothes• The flapper became the symbol of the

American woman of the 1920s, although represented only a small number

The Fundamentalist Movement

• Religious movement that started due to fear of the “new morality” that was sweeping the nation

• Billy Sunday was the leading evangelical preacher of the 1920s

The Fundamentalist Movement

• Fundamentalist believed:• 1. Bible was true and without error• 2. Darwin’s theory of evolution was not

true• 3. In creationism

The Scopes Trial

• Historic court case where evolutionists and creationists will clash

• Also referred to as “The Monkey Trial”

The Scopes Trial• Fundamentalists

successful in passing laws that outlawed the teaching of evolution in schools

• John T. Scopes a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee will teach evolution and be arrested

The Scopes Trial

• Scopes set to go on trial in summer of 1925

• Turns into a media circus• William Jennings Bryan

will be the prosecutor and represented the creationists

The Scopes Trial

• Clarence Darrow, an atheist and one of the country’s most celebrated lawyers, will defend Scopes

The Scopes Trial• Parts of the trial

broadcasted over the radio

• After eight days of trial, Scopes found guilty and fined $100

The Scopes Trial

• Fundamentalist causes severely hurt though by Darrow’s cross-examination of Bryan

Prohibition• Fundamentalists able to get support for

prohibition with passage of 18th Amendment

• Prohibition lasts 1920-1933

Prohibition

• During the 1920s, many Americans ignored the laws

• People flocked to speakeasies• Organized crime developed in America

centered around bootlegging

Prohibition• Gangsters had enough

money to corrupt local politicians and judges

• Al Capone was the most successful and violent gangster

• 21st Amendment passed in 1933 to repeal the 18th