CHAPTER 11SECTION 3

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TENSIONS

• IN THE 1920’S CONFLICTING VISIONS OF WHAT THE NATION SHOULD BE HEIGHTENED THE URBAN-RURAL DIVISION

• 1920 – FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AMERICAN HISTORY MORE PEOPLE LIVED IN URBAN AREAS THAN IN RURAL AREAS – SPLIT BETWEEN THE RURAL AND URBAN AMERICANS ON EVERY IMPORTANT SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUE

• URBAN AMERICAN SHOWED AN OPENNESS TOWARD SOCIAL CHANGE AND THE NEW DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE – THE GROWING TREND TO EMPHASIZE SCIENCE AND SECULAR VALUES OVER TRADITIONAL IDEAS ABOUT RELIGION BECAME KNOWN AS MODERNISM

• PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY GENERALLY EMBRACED A MORE TRADITIONAL VIEW OF RELIGION, SCHENCE AND CULTURE

Traditionalism & Modernism

Education

• RURAL AMERICA DID NOT PLACE SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON FORMAL EDUCATION – EDUCATION GOT IN THE WAY OF FARM CHORES THAT NEEDED TO BE DONE

• URBAN AMERICANS PLACED GREAT IMPORTANCE ON FORMAL EDUCATION – THE MORE EDUCATION THE BETTER CHANCE AT GETTING A BETTER PAYING JOB

• BY 1930 – MORE AMERICAN TEENS WERE GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND MORE AMERICANS THAN EVER BEFORE WENT TO COLLEGE

Religious Fundalmentalism

• 1920 – MANY DEVOUT CHRISTIANS BELIEVED CHRISTIANITY WAS UNDER SEIGE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD – SOVIET COMMUNISTS ATTACK OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN RUSSIA

Religious Fundalmentalism• IN THE U.S. MANY CHRISTIANS WERE UPSET BY WHAT THEY SAW AS SECULAR TRENDS IN RELIGION AND CULTURE – REAFFIRMED THEIR BELIEF IN THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF THEIR RELIGION FUNDAMENTALISM – FUNDAMENTALISTS BELIEVED:

1. EVERY WORLD OF THE BIBLE WAS LITERALLY TRUE 2. THE ANSWER TO EVERY IMPORTANT MORAL AND SCIENTIFIC QUESTION WAS IN THE BIBLE • FUNDAMENTALISM WAS STRONG IN RURAL AMERICA

SCOPES TRIAL• CLASH BETWEEN FUNDAMENTALISM AND MODERNISM OVER THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION – EVOLUTION CLASHED WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF CREATION IN THE BIBLE

• 1925 – TENNESSEE LAW BANNED THE TEACHING OF EVOLUTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS – ACLU CONVINCED JOHN SCOPES – A HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY TEACHER IN DAYTON, TN – TO TEACH IT – HE DID AND WAS ARRESTED

SCOPES TRIAL

• TRIAL DREW NATIONWIDE ATTENTION – BECAME KNOWN AS THE “MONKEY TRIAL” – BECAUSE OF THE MISTAKEN BELIEF THAT MAN EVOLVED FROM MONKEYS

SCOPES TRIAL•CLARENCE DARROW – THE MOST FAMOUS DEFENSE ATTORNEY OF THIS TIME – CAME FROM CHICAGO TO DEFEND SCOPES

• WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN – DEFENDER OF RURAL VALUES – WAS AN EXPERT FOR THE PROSECUTION

SCOPES TRIAL• DARROW ASKED BRYAN TO THE STAND AS AN EXPERT ON THE BIBLE – TESTIFIED THAT HE ACCEPTED THE BIBLE AS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH

• SCOPES WAS FOUND GUILTY – FINED $100 – THE TRIAL SHOWCASED A MAJOR CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIVISION – RESOLVED NOTHING – CONFLICT OVER EVOLUTION CONTINUES TODAY

Restricting Immigration

• NATIVISTS ARGUED THAT IMMIGRANTS TOOK JOBS AWAY FROM NATIVE BORN WORKERS AND THREATENED AMERICAN RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS

Restricting Immigration

• NATIVIST POLITICIANS WERE ABLE TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA BUT NOT FROM SOUTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE

Restricting Immigration

• RED SCARE, WWI AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION CAUSED CONCERN FOR NATIVISTS

Restricting Immigration• EMERGENCY QUOTA ACT OF 1921 AND NATIONAL ORIGINS ACT OF 1924 ESTABLISHED A QUOTA SYSTEM TO GOVERN IMMIGRATION FROM SPECIFIC COUNTRIES

FORMULA – THE NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS FOR A GIVEN NATIONALITY EACH YEAR COULD NOT EXCEED 2 % OF THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE OF THAT NATIONALITY LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES

Restricting Immigration

• QUOTA SYSTEM DID NOT APPLY TO MEXICO – MANY SETTLED IN THE SOUTHWEST AND FACED DISCRIMINATION AND HOSTILITY

Restricting Immigration

• NATIVISTS ARGUED THAT IMMIGRANTS TOOK JOBS AWAY FROM NATIVE BORN WORKERS AND THREATENED AMERICAN RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS

• NATIVIST POLITICIANS WERE ABLE TO RESTRICT IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA BUT NOT FROM SOUTHERN AND EASTERN EUROPE

• RED SCARE, WWI AND THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION CAUSED CONCERN FOR NATIVISTS

Restricting Immigration

• EMERGENCY QUOTA ACT OF 1921 AND NATIONAL ORIGINS ACT OF 1924 ESTABLISHED A QUOTA SYSTEM TO GOVERN IMMIGRATION FROM SPECIFIC COUNTRIES – FORMULA – THE NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS FOR A GIVEN NATIONALITY EACH YEAR COULD NOT EXCEED 2 % OF THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE OF THAT NATIONALITY LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES

Restricting Immigration

• QUOTA SYSTEM DID NOT APPLY TO MEXICO – MANY SETTLED IN THE SOUTHWEST AND FACED DISCRIMINATION AND HOSTILITY

The New Klu Klux Klan• MANY PEOPLE WANTED A COUNTRY THAT WAS NOT ETHNICALLY DIVERSE • RURAL AMERICANS LASHED OUT AGAINST SYMBOLS OF CHANGE – SOME TURNED TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT SUPPORTED DOCTRINES OF HATE AND USED VIOLENCE AND TERROR TO ACHIEVE GOALS

• GEORGIA – 1915 – A GROUP OF MEN REVIVED THE KLU KLUX KLAN – ORIGINALLY A GROUP IN THE SOUTH TO KEEP AFRICAN AMERICANS FROM VOTING

The New Klu Klux Klan

• REVIVED KLAN PROMOTED THEIR HATRED OF AFRICAN AMERICANS ALSO JEWS, CATHOLICS AND IMMIGRANTS – HAD 4 TO 5 MILLION MEMBERS – MOSTLY IN THE SOUTH

• THE NAACP AND THE JEWISH ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE BATTLED AGAINST THE KLAN AND PROMOTED RACIAL, ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Prohibition and Crime• PROHIBITION – THE BANNING OF ALCOHOL – 1919 – STATES RATIFIED THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT WHICH FORBADE THE MANUFACTURE, DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF ALCOHOL ANYWHERE IN THE U.S. – PASSED LARGELY ON THE STRENGTH OF RURAL VOTES

Prohibition and Crime• CONGRESS PASSED THE VOLSTEAD ACT – WHICH WAS A LAW THAT OFFICIALLY ENFORCED THE AMENDMENT

• THE “DRYS” CALLED PROHIBITION A “NOBLE EXPERIMENT” – BELIEVED IT IMPROVED INDIVIDUALS, STRENGTHENED FAMILIES AND CREATED BETTER SOCIETIES

Prohibition and Crime• DRINKING AS WELL AS

ALCOHOLISM AND LIVER DISEASE DECLINED DURING PROHIBITION

• “WETS” – OPPONENTS OF PROHIBITION – BELIEVED THE BAN OF ALCOHOL DID NOT STOP PEOPLE FROM DRINKING – IT CREATED AN ATMOSPHERE OF HYPOCRISY AND INCREASED ORGANIZED CRIME

Prohibition and Crime

• VOLSTEAD ACT DID NOT STOP PEOPLE FROM DRINKING – PEOPLE MADE ALCOHOL IN HOMEMADE STILLS OR SMUGGLED IT IN FROM OTHER COUNTRIES – BOOTLEGGERS – SOLD ILLEGAL ALCOHOL TO CONSUMERS

Prohibition and Crime

• IN CITIES, SECRET BARS – SPEAKEASIES – ATTRACTED CUSTOMERS – GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TRIED TO STOP THE SALE OF ILLEGAL LIQUOR – WERE SHORTHANDED

Prohibition and Crime

• ILLEGAL LIQUOR WAS ATTRACTIVE TO CRIME ORGANIZATIONS – POTENTIAL TO MAKE MILLIONS – AL CAPONE – CHICAGO GANG LEADER – WAS THE MOST FAMOUS CRIMINAL OF THE PROHIBITION ERA

• THE PROBLEM WAS THAT PROVIDING ALCOHOL ORGANIZED CRIME SPREAD INTO OTHER AREAS OF SOCIETY – CAPONE’S OTHER BUSINESSES INCLUDED PROSTITUTION, DRUGS, ROBBERY AND MURDER – PROHIBITION CONTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF ORGANIZED CRIME IN AMERICA

Prohibition and Crime• MOST CITY POLITICIANS WANTED PROHIBITION REPEALED – WAS NOT REPEALED UNTIL 1933 WITH THE TWENTY-FIRST AMENDMENT