Roaring Twenties - IComets
U.S. History – AEllsworthRoaringTwentiesChapter 13, Section 1Chapter 13, Section 2Chapter 13, Section 3Chapter 13, Section 4Week 9
434-439-Chapter 1310/21/025:20 PMPage 434Page 1 of 6Changing Waysof LifeMAIN IDEAAmericans experiencedcultural conflicts as customsand values changed in the1920s.Terms & NamesWHY IT MATTERS NOWThe way in which differentgroups react to changecontinues to cause conflicttoday. Prohibition speakeasy bootlegger fundamentalism Clarence Darrow Scopes trialOne American's StoryAs the 1920s dawned, social reformers who hoped to banalcohol—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.A PERSONAL VOICE BILLY SUNDAY“ The reign of tears is over! The slums will soon be only a memory.We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses andcorncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile and the childrenwill laugh. Hell will be forever for rent!”—quoted in How Dry We Were: Prohibition RevisitedSunday’s dream was not to be realized in the 1920s, as the lawproved unenforceable. The failure of Prohibition was a sign of culturalconflicts most evident in the nation’s cities. Lured by jobs and by thechallenge and freedom that the city represented, millions of peoplerode excitedly out of America’s rural past and into its urban future.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 leaving farms and towns each year. “Cities were the place to be, not to get awayfrom,” said one historian. The agricultural world that millions of Americans leftbehind was largely unchanged from the 19th century—that world was one ofsmall towns and farms bound together by conservative moral values and closesocial relationships. Yet small-town attitudes began to lose their hold on theAmerican mind as the city rose to prominence.434CHAPTER 13 Rural and Urban Differences1920s evangelistBilly Sunday
434-439-Chapter 1310/21/02MAIN IDEAContrastingA How didsmall-town life andcity life differ?A. Answer Smalltowns werebound by traditional morals andclose ties of family, friends, andreligion. Citiesoffered variedperspectives andoptions becauseof their large,mixed populations; culturalvariety; andgreater tolerance of valuesand ideas.5:20 PMPage 435Page 2 of 6THE NEW URBAN SCENE At the beginning of the 1920s, New York, with apopulation of 5.6 million people, topped the list of big cities. Next came Chicago,with nearly 3 million, and Philadelphia, with nearly 2 million. Another 65 citiesclaimed populations of 100,000 or more, and they grew more crowded by the day.Life in these booming cities was far different from the slow-paced, intimate life in America’s small towns. Chicago, for instance, was an indus- “ How ya gonnatrial powerhouse, home to native-born whites and African Americans, keep ’em downimmigrant Poles, Irish, Russians, Italians, Swedes, Arabs, French, and on the farm,Chinese. Each day, an estimated 300,000 workers, 150,000 cars and after they’vebuses, and 20,000 trolleys filled the pulsing downtown. At night people seen Paree?”crowded into ornate movie theaters and vaudeville houses offering livePOPULAR SONG OF THE 1920svariety shows.For small-town migrants, adapting to the urban environment demandedchanges in thinking as well as in everyday living. The city was a world of competition and change. City dwellers read and argued about current scientific andsocial ideas. They judged one another by accomplishment more often than bySkillbuilderbackground. City dwellers also tolerated drinking, gambling, and casual dating—Answersworldly behaviors considered shocking and sinful in small towns. A1. PossibleFor all its color and challenge, though, the city could be impersonal andAnswer: Theperson in thefrightening. Streets were filled with strangers, not friends and neighbors. Life wascenter with thefast-paced, not leisurely. The city demanded endurance, as a foreign visitor tosaxophone isChicago observed.the focal point.2. PossibleAnswer: The figA PERSONAL VOICE WALTER L. GEORGEure on the right“ It is not for nothing that the predominating color of Chicago is orange. It is asis runningtoward the bigif the city, in its taxicabs, in its shop fronts, in the wrappings of its parcels, chosecity buildings.the color of flame that goes with the smoky black of its factories. It is not for3. Possiblenothing that it has repelled the geometric street arrangement of New York andAnswer: The figsubstituted . . . great ways with names that a stranger must learn if he can. . . .ure in the centerHe is in a [crowded] city, and if he has business there, he tells himself, ‘If Iappears to bejoyous as heweaken I shan’t last long.’”—Hail Columbia!raises his armsupwards.History ThroughSONG OF THE TOWERSThis mural by Aaron Douglas is part of a serieshe painted inside the 135th Street Branch ofthe New York Public Library to symbolize different aspects of African-American life during the1920s. In this panel, Song of the Towers, hedepicts figures before a city backdrop. As seenhere, much of Douglas’s style was influencedby jazz music and geometric shapes.SKILLBUILDER Analyzing Visual Sources1. What is the focal point of this panel?2. What parts of this painting might be symbolicof African Americans’ move north?3. How does Douglas represent new freedomsin this mural? Support your answer withexamples.SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK,PAGE R23.
434-439-Chapter 1310/21/025:20 PMDIFFICULTD E C I SI O N STO PROHIBITALCOHOL OR NOT?Page 436Page 3 of 6In the city, lonely migrants from the country often achedfor home. Throughout the 1920s, Americans found themselves caught between rural and urban cultures—a tug thatpitted what seemed to be a safe, small-town world of closeties, hard work, and strict morals against a big-city world ofanonymous crowds, moneymakers, and pleasure seekers.THE PROHIBITION EXPERIMENT 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 of1. Examine the pros and cons ofcorruption.They thought that too much drinking led toeach position. Which do youcrime,wifeandchild abuse, accidents on the job, and otheragree with? What other facserious social problems. Support for Prohibition came largelytors, if any, do you think wouldinfluence your position?from the rural South and West, areas with large populationsof native-born Protestants. The church-affiliated Anti-Saloon2. If you had been a legislatorasked to vote for theLeague had led the drive to pass the Prohibition amendment.Eighteenth Amendment, whatThe Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which considwould you have said? Explain.ered drinking a sin, had helped push the measure through.3. What happens when the govAt first, saloons closed their doors, and arrests forernment legislates moral valdrunkenness declined. But in the aftermath of World War I,ues? Give contemporarymany Americans were tired of making sacrifices; they wantexamples to support youred to enjoy life. Most immigrant groups did not consideranswer.drinking 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. The job of enforcement involved patrolling 18,700 milesof coastline as well as inland borders, tracking down illegal stills (equipment for distilling liquor), monitoring highways for truckloads ofillegal alcohol, and overseeing all the industries that legally usedalcohol to be sure none was siphoned off for illegal purposes. Thetask fell to approximately 1,500 poorly paid federal agents andlocal police—clearly an impossible job.The question of whether to outlaw alcohol divided Americans.Many believed the governmentshould make alcohol illegal toprotect the public, while othersbelieved it was a personal decision, and not morally wrong.SPEAKEASIES AND BOOTLEGGERS To obtain liquor illegally, drinkers went underground to hidden saloons andnightclubs known as speakeasies—so called because wheninside, one spoke quietly, or “easily,” to avoid detection.Speakeasies could be found everywhere—in penthouses, cellars, office buildings, rooming houses, tenements, hardwarestores, and tearooms. To be admitted to a speakeasy, one had topresent a card or use a password. Inside, one would find a mix offashionable middle-class and upper-middle-class men andwomen.Before long, people grew bolder in getting around the law.They learned to distill alcohol and built their own stills. Since alcohol was allowed for medicinal and religious purposes, prescriptions A young woman demonstrates one of the means used to conceal alcohol—hiding itin containers strapped to one’s legs.436CHAPTER 13
434-439-Chapter 1310/21/02MAIN IDEADevelopingHistoricalPerspectiveB Why do youthink theEighteenthAmendment failedto eliminatealcoholconsumption?B. PossibleAnswers Theconsumption ofalcohol was atraditional partof many cultures; the government failedto provide sufficient staff andresources toenforce the law;the means ofmanufacturing,selling, andtransportingliquor weremany and couldeasily be concealed.5:20 PMPage 437Page 4 of 6for alcohol and sales of sacramental wine (intended forchurch services) skyrocketed. People also bought liquorfrom bootleggers (named for a smuggler’s practice of carrying liquor in the legs of boots), who smuggled it in fromCanada, Cuba, and the West Indies. “The business of evading [the law] and making a mock of it has ceased to wearany aspects of crime and has become a sort of nationalsport,” wrote the journalist H. L. Mencken. BHISTORICALS P O TLIG H TORGANIZED CRIME Prohibition not only generated disrespect for the law, it also contributed to organized crime innearly every major city. Chicago became notorious as thehome of Al Capone, a gangster whose bootlegging empirenetted over 60 million a year. Capone took control of theChicago liquor business by killing off his competition.During the 1920s, headlines reported 522 bloody gangkillings and made the image of flashy Al Capone part of thefolklore of the period. In 1940, the writer Herbert Asburyrecalled the Capone era in Chicago.AL CAPONEBy age 26, Al Capone headed acriminal empire in Chicago, whichhe controlled through the use ofbribes and violence. From 1925 to1931, Capone bootlegged whiskeyfrom Canada, operated illegalbreweries in Chicago, and ran anetwork of 10,000 speakeasies.In 1927, the “Big Fellow,” as heliked to be called, was worth anestimated 100 million.The end came quickly forCapone, though. In 1931, thegangster chief was arrested fortax evasion and went to jail.That was the only crime of whichthe authorities were ever ableto convict him. Capone was laterreleased from jail, but he diedseveral years later at age 48.A PERSONAL VOICE HERBERT ASBURY“ The famous seven-ton armored car, with the pudgy gang-ster lolling on silken cushions in its darkened recesses, abig cigar in his fat face, and a 50,000 diamond ring blazing from his left hand, was one of the sights of the city; theaverage tourist felt that his trip to Chicago was a failureunless it included a view of Capone out for a spin. Themere whisper: ‘Here comes Al,’ was sufficient to stop traffic and to set thousands of curious citizens craning theirnecks along the curbing.”—Gem of the PrairieMAIN IDEAAnalyzingEffectsC How didcriminals takeadvantage ofProhibition?C. AnswerCriminals brokethe law bysmuggling, aswell as by making alcohol andselling it forprofit.By the mid-1920s, only 19 percent of Americans supported Prohibition. The rest, who wanted the amendmentchanged or repealed, believed that Prohibition causedworse effects than the initial problem. Rural ProtestantAmericans, however, defended a law that they felt strengthened moral values. TheEighteenth Amendment remained in force until 1933, when it was repealed bythe Twenty-first Amendment. CProhibition, 1920–1933Causes Various religious groups thought drinkingalcohol was sinful. Reformers believed that the governmentshould protect the public’s health. Reformers believed that alcohol led tocrime, wife and child abuse, and accidentson the job. During World War I, native-born Americansdeveloped a hostility to German-Americanbrewers and toward other immigrantgroups that used alcohol.Effects Consumption of alcohol declined. Disrespect for the law developed. An increase in lawlessness, suchas smuggling and bootlegging, wasevident. Criminals found a new source ofincome. Organized crime grew.The Roaring Life of the 1920s437
434-439-Chapter 1310/21/025:20 PMPage 438Page 5 of 6Science and Religion ClashAnother bitter controversy highlighted the growingrift between traditional and modern ideas duringthe 1920s. This battle raged between fundamentalist religious groups and secular thinkers over the truths of science.AMERICAN FUNDAMENTALISM The Protestant movementgrounded in a literal, or nonsymbolic, interpretation of theBible was known as fundamentalism. Fundamentalistswere skeptical of scientific knowledge; they argued that allimportant knowledge could be found in the Bible. They believedthat the Bible was inspired by God, and that therefore its stories inall their details were true.Their beliefs led fundamentalists to reject the theory of evolution advanced by Charles Darwin in the 19th century—a theorystating that plant and animal species had developed and changedover millions of years. The claim they found most unbelievablewas that humans had evolved from apes. They pointed instead tothe Bible’s account of creation, in which God made the world andall its life forms, including humans, in six days.The evangelist AimeeFundamentalism expressed itself in several ways. In the South Semple McPhersonand West, preachers led religious revivals based on the authority of in 1922the Scriptures. One of the most powerful revivalists was BillySunday, a baseball player turned preacher who staged emotional meetings across theSouth. In Los Angeles, Aimee Semple McPherson, a theatrical woman who dressedin flowing white satin robes, used Hollywood showmanship to preach the word toMAIN IDEAhomesick Midwestern migrants and devoted followers of her radio broadcasts. In the1920s, fundamentalism gained followers who began to call for laws prohibiting the SummarizingD Summarizeteaching of evolution. D N OWTHENEVOLUTION, CREATIONISM,AND EDUCATIONThere is still great controversytoday over the teaching of evolution in the public schools. Somepeople believe that creation theory should be taught as a theory ofthe origin of life, along with evolution. As recently as 1999, theKansas State School Board votedto eliminate the teaching of evolution from the curriculum.The issue of what should betaught about the origin of life—and who should decide thisissue—continues to stir updebate. Some have suggestedthat science and religion are notnecessarily incompatible. Theybelieve that a theory of the originof life can accommodate both thescientific theory of evolution andreligious beliefs.438CHAPTER 13THE SCOPES TRIAL In March 1925, Tennessee passed thenation’s first law that made it a crime to teach evolution.Immediately, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)promised to defend any teacher who would challenge thelaw. John T. Scopes, a young biology teacher in Dayton,Tennessee, accepted the challenge. In his biology class,Scopes read this passage from Civic Biology: “We have nowlearned that animal forms may be arranged so as to beginwith the simple one-celled forms and culminate with agroup which includes man himself.” Scopes was promptlyarrested, and his trial was set for July.The ACLU hired Clarence Darrow, the most famoustrial lawyer of the day, to defend Scopes. William JenningsBryan, three-time Democratic candidate for president and adevout fundamentalist, served as a special prosecutor. Therewas no real question of guilt or innocence: Scopes was honest about his action. The Scopes trial was a fight over evolution and the role of science and religion in public schoolsand in American society.The trial opened on July 10, 1925, and almost overnightbecame a national sensation. Darrow called Bryan as anexpert on the Bible—the contest that everyone had beenwaiting for. To handle the throngs of Bryan supporters,Judge Raulston moved the court outside, to a platform builtunder the maple trees. There, before a crowd of severalthe beliefs offundamentalism.Vocabularyculminate:to come tocompletion; endD. AnswerFundamentalistsbelieved that allimportantknowledgecould be foundin the Bible andthat what was inthe Bible wastrue. TheyrejectedDarwin’s theoryof evolution.
434-439-Chapter 1310/21/025:20 PMPage 439Page 6 of 6thousand, Darrow relentlessly questioned Bryan abouthis beliefs. Bryan stood firm, a smile on his face.A PERSONAL VOICECLARENCE DARROW AND WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYANMr. Darrow—“ You claim that everything in theBible should be literally interpreted?”MAIN IDEAAnalyzingIssuesE What was theconflict betweenfundamentalistsand those whoacceptedevolution?—quoted in Bryan and Darrow at DaytonDarrow asked Bryan if he agreed with BishopJames Ussher’s calculation that, according to theBible, Creation happened in 4004 B.C. Had every living thing on earth appeared since that time? DidBryan know that ancient civilizations had thrivedbefore 4004 B.C.? Did he know the age of the earth?Bryan grew edgy but stuck to his guns. Finally, Darrow asked Bryan, “Do youthink the earth was made in six days?” Bryan answered, “Not six days of 24hours.” People sitting on the lawn gasped. EWith this answer, Bryan admitted that the Bible might be interpreted indifferent ways. But in spite of this admission, Scopes was found guilty andfined 100. The Tennessee Supreme Court later changed the verdict on a technicality, but the law outlawing the teaching of evolution remained in effect.This clash over evolution, the Prohibition experiment, and the emergingurban scene all were evidence of the changes and conflicts occurring during the1920s. During that period, women also experienced conflict as they redefinedtheir roles and pursued new lifestyles. E. AnswerFundamentalistsbelieved thatGod created theworld in sixdays, whereasevolutionistsargued thatmodern speciesdeveloped fromearlier forms oflife over millionsof years.Mr. Bryan—“ I believe everything in the Bible shouldbe accepted as it is given there. Some of the Bibleis given illustratively. For instance: ‘Ye are the salt ofthe earth.’ I would not insist that man was actuallysalt, or that he had flesh of salt, but it is used in thesense of salt as saving God’s people.”A 1925 newspapercartoon portraysBryan (left) andDarrow (right) at theclose of the Scopes"monkey" trial on theteaching of evolution,so-called because ofa theory of evolutionthat humans evolvedfrom apes.1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance. Prohibition speakeasy bootlegger fundamentalism Clarence Darrow Scopes trialMAIN IDEACRITICAL THINKING2. TAKING NOTESCreate two diagrams like the onebelow. Show how governmentattempted to deal with (a) problemsthought to stem from alcohol useand (b) the teaching of evolution.3. ANALYZING ISSUESHow might the overall atmosphereof the 1920s have contributed tothe failure of Prohibition?IssueLegis
Roaring Twenties Chapter 13, Section 1 Chapter 13, Section 2 Chapter 13, Section 3 Chapter 13, Section 4 . 434 CHAPTER 13 MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA Terms & Names One American's Story Changing Ways of Life Prohibitio
The Roaring Twenties by CommonLit is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. The Start of the Great Depression and the End of the Roaring Twenties The long-gathering storm broke only eight months into Hoover's presidency. On October 14, 1929 - the
Chapter 3 The Roaring Twenties 1920–1929 T he 1920s stand out in the history of naval aviation as a decade of growth. The air arm steadily increased in size and strength while improving its administrative and operational position within the
Chapter 3 The Roaring Twenties and Austrian Business Cycle Theory The Yale University economist Irving Fisher invented a system for easily displaying index cards, later known as the Rolodex, and sold his Index Visible Company in 1925 for a tidy sum. He turned his small fortune in
Politics of the Roaring Twenties The United States seeks postwar normality and isolation. The standard of living soars amid labor unrest, immigration quotas, and the . Look through your textbook at Chapter 20, Sections 1 and 2 for ideas
3. The Roaring Twenties During the 1920’s new dances, new music, new games and other new ways of fun swept the country. New fads caught on in the country. A fad is an activity or fashion that is taken up with great passion for a short time. Dances and crazes came
“Roaring Twenties,” . 3. Read/Analyze: Read the chapter. If you have your own copy of AMSCO, Highlight key events and people as you read. Remember, the goal is not to “fish” for a specific answer(s) to reading guide questions, but to consider ques
America in the Roaring Twenties.wmv Readings: The Americans Chapter 12 Sec 1 The Americans Chapter 12 Sec 2 TCI Pursuing American Ideals Chapter 26 TCI Pursuing American Ideals Chapter 27.3
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