A Nation Divided

Chapter 25, Section 4 A Nation Divided

• Which Americans did not share in the prosperity of the 1920s?

• Why did the Red Scare lead Americans to demand limits on immigration?

• What did the Scopes trial and the revival of the Klan reveal about society in the 1920s?

• What happened during the election of 1928?

• Beneath the glittering prosperity, the economy was in trouble.

• Many workers did not share in the boom. Textile workers lost out when skirts became shorter. Coal miners lost out as oil replaced coal. Railroad workers lost jobs as cars and trucks replaced railroads.

• Farmers were hit hardest. After the war, European farmers were again able to produce enough for Europe’s needs. Demand for American farm products dropped sharply, along with prices.

Labor unions also lost out.

• During the war, unions had worked with the government to keep production high. However, wages had not kept up with prices. Now, workers demanded higher pay. Employers refused. Unions launched strikes. The strikes turned the public against labor.

• In the late 1920s, in many court

cases, judges limited the rights of unions.

• Employers created company unions, labor organizations that were controlled by management.

• At war, Americans had watched for enemy spies and sabotage, or the secret destruction of property or interference with factory work. Communism also caused fear because communist leaders called on workers everywhere to overthrow their government. These worries led to a fear of foreigners.

• The actions of anarchists, or people who oppose organized government, added to the sense of danger. One anarchist group plotted to kill well-known Americans. Because many anarchists were foreign-born, people began to call for action against foreigners. The government did take action against anarchists and Communists, or “Reds.” During this Red Scare, many foreigners were deported, or expelled from the country.

• Immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for robbery and murder in 1920. The two said they were anarchists but had committed no crime. A jury convicted them, and eventually they were executed.

• The trial caused a furor because there was little evidence, and the judge was prejudiced. The issue of whether they received a fair trial has been debated ever since.

• The Red Scare died down, but anger against foreigners led to a new move to limit immigration. This kind of anti-foreign feeling is called nativism.

• Others worried about

Communists and anarchists. Some American workers feared immigrants would force wages down.

• Congress responded in 1921 by passing the Emergency Quota Act, which set up a quota system that allowed only a certain number of people from each country to enter the United States.

• Only 3 percent of the people in any national group already living in the United States in 1910 could be admitted. The system favored immigrants from Northern Europe. Congress passed laws limiting immigration from Eastern Europe.

• Japanese immigrants were denied entry.

• The Scopes Trial revealed a clash between old and new values.

• Charles Darwin, a British scientist, claimed that all life had evolved, or developed, from simpler forms over time.

• Some churches condemned Darwin’s theory, saying it denied the teachings of the Bible.

• Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas banned the teaching of Darwin’s theory.

• In 1925, John Scopes, a Tennessee biology teacher, taught evolution. He was arrested and tried.

• William Jennings Bryan argued the state’s case against Scopes. Clarence Darrow defended Scopes.

• In the end, Scopes was convicted and fined. The laws against teaching evolution remain on the books, although they are rarely enforced.

• A rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan revealed a fear of change.

• The old Klan had used terror to keep African Americans from voting. The new Klan aimed to preserve the United States for white, native-born Protestants.

• The new Klan waged a campaign against African Americans and immigrants, especially Catholics and Jews.

• The Klan supported efforts to limit immigration.

• When scandals showed that Klan leaders had stolen money from members, Klan membership dropped

African Americans had hoped that their service during World War I would weaken racism at home.• Returning black soldiers

found segregation in the South and racial prejudice in the North.

• In northern cities, African Americans often found that only the lowest-paying jobs were open to them.

• In many neighborhoods, whites refused to rent to blacks.

• Many blacks newly arrived from the South wanted to live near one another, so largely black neighborhoods grew up in northern cities.

• In some northern cities, race riots broke out.

The Great Migration

African Americans looked for new ways to cope with racism.

• Marcus Garvey started the first widespread black nationalist movement in the United States. He organized the Universal Negro Improvement Association to promote unity and pride among African Americans.

• He urged African Americans to seek their roots in Africa.

• Republicans had led the nation for eight years.

• President Coolidge did not choose to run again. Instead, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover won the Republican nomination.

• The Democrats chose Alfred E. Smith, a former governor of New York, to be their candidate.

• The candidates represented the tensions in American life. Smith, the son of Irish immigrants, was the first Catholic to run for President. He attracted city dwellers, including many immigrants and Catholics, as well as opponents of Prohibition.

• Hoover was a self-made millionaire from the Midwest. He attracted rural Americans and big business, as well as supporters of Prohibition.

• Although big-city dwellers voted for Smith, Hoover won by a landslide. Americans hoped he would keep the country prosperous.