Culture in the 1920S

Culture in the 1920s

US History/Napp Name: ______

“As the 1920s dawned, social reformers who hoped to ban alcohol – and the evils associated with it – rejoiced. TheEighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, banning themanufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol, tookeffect in January of 1920. Billy Sunday, an evangelist whopreached against the evils of drinking, predicted a new ageof virtue and religion. Sunday’s dream was not to be realized in the 1920s, as the lawproved unenforceable.

America changed dramatically in the years before 1920, as was revealed in the1920 census. According to figures that year, 51.2 percent of Americans lived incommunities with populations of 2,500 to more than 1 million. Between 1922and 1929, migration to the cities accelerated, with nearly 2 million people leavingfarms and towns each year. Small-town attitudes began to lose their hold on theAmerican mind as the city rose to prominence. City dwellers read and argued about current scientific andsocial ideas. They judged one another by accomplishment more often than bybackground. City dwellers also tolerated drinking, gambling, and casual dating – worldly behaviors considered shocking and sinful in small towns. For all its color and challenge, though, the city could be impersonal andfrightening. Streets were filled with strangers, not friends and neighbors. Life wasfast-paced, not leisurely. The city demanded endurance.

One vigorous clashbetween small-town and big-city Americans began inearnest in January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendmentwent into effect. This amendment launched the era knownas Prohibition, during which the manufacture, sale, andtransportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited. Reformers had long considered liquor a prime cause ofcorruption. They thought that too much drinking led tocrime, wife and child abuse, accidents on the job, and otherserious social problems. Support for Prohibition came largelyfrom the rural South and West, areas with large populationsof native-born Protestants.At first, saloons closed their doors, and arrests fordrunkenness declined. But in the aftermath of World War I,many Americans were tired of making sacrifices; they wantedto enjoy life. Most immigrant groups did not considerdrinking a sin but a natural part of socializing, and theyresented government meddling.

Eventually, Prohibition’s fate was sealed by the government, which failed tobudget enough money to enforce the law. The Volstead Act established aProhibition Bureau in the Treasury Department in 1919, but the agency wasunderfunded. To obtain liquor illegally,drinkers went underground to hidden saloons andnightclubs known as speakeasies – so called because when inside, one spoke quietly, or ‘easily,’ to avoid detection.”

~ The Americans

Public disregard for Prohibition indicate
(1) that the American film industry has great influence on public opinion
(2) that the system of checks and balances does not work
(3) that attempts to legislate public morality may be met with strong resistance
(4) that Americans do not respect the law / 2. What was a major result of Prohibition in the United States during the 1920s?
(1)restriction of immigration
(2)growth of communism
(3)destruction of family values
(4)increase in organized crime

“The 1920s saw the emergence of new values. Greater mobility and material comfort had a key impact on social patterns and beliefs. Many groups, especially women, the young, and African Americans, felt a new sense of power and freedom. Others felt threatened and sought to preserve traditional values.

At the start of the 1920s, rural American continued to regard the rise of urban society with suspicion. The best examples of the effort to defend traditional values were Prohibition and the Scopes Trial.

Prohibition
1-Protestant reformers often saw liquor as the cause of poverty and crime
2-In 1919, the states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the sale of alcoholic drinks.
3-By 1933, most Americans saw this ‘experiment’ as a failure because many people had refused to accept the ban on alcohol.
4-The demand for illegal liquor stimulated the growth of organized crime in the 1920s.
5-Prohibition was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment / The Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial
1-Tennessee passed a law that forbade teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution because it contradicted the Biblical account of creation
2-In 1925, John Scopes, a biology teacher, was tried and convicted for teaching evolution
3-The trial illustrated the clash between new scientific theories and some older religious beliefs
~ The Key to Understanding U.S. History and Government / New Restrictions on Immigration
1-After World War I, nativist feeling against immigrants led Congress to restrict immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe
2-The Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, and 1929 established quotas for each nationality based on America’s existing ethnic composition
3-Under this system, Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany were allowed the greatest number of immigrants, while the number of ‘New Immigrants’ was severely limited
4-Asian immigration was barred altogether

1-What had a key impact on American social patterns and beliefs in the 1920s? ______

2-What groups felt a new sense of power and freedom? ______

3-Why did some Americans feel threatened in this time period? ______

4-What did some Protestant reformers believe about liquor? ______

5-Discuss the Eighteenth Amendment. ______

6-Why did many Americans by 1933 view the Eighteenth Amendment as a failure? ______

7-What had the demand for illegal alcohol stimulated? ______

8-Discuss the Twenty-first Amendment. ______

9-What law had Tennessee passed regarding Darwin’s theory of evolution? ______

10-Who was John Scopes and why was he convicted? ______

11-What did the Scopes Trial illustrate in American society? ______

12-What feelings had increased after World War I? ______

13-Define nativism. ______

14-Discuss the Immigration Acts of 1921, 1924, and 1929. ______

15-What is an immigration quota? ______

16-What countries were allowed the greatest number of immigrants? ______

17-Why do you think these countries were allowed the greatest number of immigrants? ______

18-Who do you think were the “New Immigrants”? ______

19-What immigration was banned? ______

20-Why do you think this immigration was banned? ______

21-Was this preferential treatment of some immigrants and not other immigrants ethnocentric? ______

22-Do these issues regarding immigration still exist today? ______

23-Does the conflict between religion and science still exist today? ______

24-What was most surprising to you on the chart? ______

25-How do you feel about Prohibition? ______

26-How do you feel about the Scopes Trial? ____________

1. The 1920’s are sometimes called the “Roaring Twenties” because
(1)foreign trade prospered after World War I
(2)the United States assumed a leadership role in world affairs
(3)political reforms made government more democratic
(4)widespread social and economic change occurred
2. Speaker A: “To preserve our American culture, people whose national origins do not match the origins of our nation’s founders must be refused admission.”
Speaker B: “. . . let us admit only the best educated from every racial and ethnic group . . .”
Speaker C: “. . . there is an appalling danger to the American wage earner from the flood of low, unskilled, ignorant, foreign workers who have poured into the country . . .”
Speaker D: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . .”
In the early 20th century, most labor unions supported the view of
(1)Speaker A
(2)Speaker B
(3)Speaker C
(4)Speaker D
3. Which feature of the immigration laws of the 1920’s was different from prior laws?
(1)Quotas were set to limit immigration from many countries
(2)Preference was granted to Chinese immigrants
(3)Refugees from war-torn Europe were encouraged to enter the United States.
(4)Efforts were made to stop illegal immigration from Latin America. / 4. Which events best support the image of the 1920’s as a decade of nativist sentiment?
(1)the passage of the National Origins Act and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan
(2)the Scopes trial and the passage of women’s suffrage
(3)the Washington Naval Conference and the Kellogg-Briand Pact
(4)the growth of the auto industry and the Teapot Dome Affair
5. In the United States, the decade of the 1920’s was characterized by
(1)a willingness to encourage immigration to the United States
(2)increased consumer borrowing and spending
(3)the active involvement of the United States in Europe
6. The 1925 trial of John Scopes reflects the conflict between
(1)science and religion
(2)isolation and international involvement
(3)traditional roles and new roles for women
(4)Prohibition and organized crime
7. What was a major result of Prohibition in the United States during the 1920s?
(1)restriction of immigration
(2)growth of communism
(3)destruction of family values
(4)increase in organized crime