1920s American history test

Nativism

a defense of native-born people and a hostility to the foreign born, usually combined with a desire to stop or slow immigration

1st Red Scare

period of time when many Americans were gripped by the fear that communists and supporters of other non-democratic forms of government within the United States would take over the country.

Causes of 1st Red Scare

1) Increased Immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe after WWI.  

2) Successful communist revolution in Russia (1917)

3) Many Americans believed there was a large, well-organized conspiracy to overthrow capitalism and the Government in the U.S.

• Thousands of labor strikes in 1919

• Bombs mailed to homes of important business and political leaders in 1919

Results of 1st Red Scare

Palmer Raids, Sacco & Vanzetti Trial.

Palmer Raids

series of raids, organized by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, which tried to uncover a conspiracy to overthrow the American Government.  

• As a result of these raids, more than 500 people were deported without being charged or convicted of any crimes.

Sacco & Vanzetti Trial

-2 Italian anarchists charged with murdering a factory paymaster in Mass.  

-Found guilty in a swift trial even though little “evidence” was provided against them.  

-Many felt they were executed because of their ethnicity and political beliefs.  

-The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was created in response to this case.

Johnson Reed Act/National Origins Act (1924)

Law that set quotas on the number of immigrants who could be admitted from certain countries. The purpose of this law was to reduce the number of poor Jews, Catholics, and political radicals immigrating to the U.S. from Southern & Eastern Europe.

Resurgence of the KKK

1920s KKK aimed to 

1) Preserve “white supremacy” 

2) Protect U.S. from foreign and/or radical elements (Jews, Roman Catholics, communists, anarchists, etc…)

19th Amendment

Gave women the right to vote

Seneca Falls Convention

Lucretia Mott & Elizabeth Cady Stanton presented their “Declaration of Sentiments” at this meeting in NY. Marked formal beginning of Women’s Rights Movement.

Declaration of Sentiments

1st document to call for equal rights for women and to give women “suffrage.” Formatted like the Declaration of Independence

Carrie Chapman Catt

Believed in gradual change through traditional methods

-“Winning Plan”

Carrie Chapman Catt‘s Winning Plan

1) Lobby Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to give women suffrage 

2) Use referendum process to pass suffrage laws - state by state.

Alice Paul

Believed in immediate change and use of radical methods

-Silent Sentinels

Alice Paul‘s Silent Sentinels

-Paul organized groups of women to march outside the White House with controversial picket signs during WWI

-Hunger Strikes

18th & 21st Amendments

forbade the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol anywhere in the US. Also known as “prohibition” it was repealed in 1933 with the 21st Amendment.

Prohibition

A ban on the production, sale and transportation of alcohol.

Bootlegger

person who smuggled alcoholic beverages into the United States during Prohibition.

Speakeasy

places where alcoholic drinks were illegally sold and consumed during Prohibition.

Unintended Results of Prohibition

-Creation of Organized Crime 

-Increased female alcoholism

-Political Corruption - hypocritical politicians who publicly supported prohibition but drank at speakeasies

-Corruption in police force

How standard of living changed during 1920s

More people lived in urban areas than in rural regions. 

Traditionalism: Tended to be found in rural areas, Older generations, Emphasis on basing values on religion/faith.

Modernism: Tended to be found in urban areas, Youth, Emphasis on science and secular values.

Great Migration

period of time when hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved from the rural South to big cities in the North and West to find jobs and escape racism.

Causes of Great Migration

1) Institutionalized Racism in South- Jim Crow Laws, Compromise of 1877, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

2) Violent Oppression in South- Resurgence of KKK

3) Economic Opportunity in North & West- World War I and the booming automobile industry opened up numerous manufacturing jobs in cities throughout the North and West.

Jim Crow Laws

laws that required the separation of races

Compromise of 1877

Ended Reconstruction by removing Federal troops from the South.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court decision that legalized segregation by Federal Government - “separate but equal”

Results of Great Migration

Negative Results: Urban Race Riots

-The Great migration, the return of World War I soldiers looking for work, and general racist attitudes led to violent racial conflict in over 24 cities, most notably Chicago (1919).

Positive Results: Harlem Renaissance

Urban Race Riots: Chicago

Chicago Race Riot (1919)

-Began after drowning of African American on segregated beach.

-38 killed (23 = black, 15 = white)

-Over 500 wounded

Harlem Renaissance

Period when African-American artistic creativity centered in the Harlem community of New York City. This creativity... 

1. established “Jazz” as an American music genre

2. unified and gave African Americans pride in their culture.

3. undermined a racist belief that African Americans were intellectually inferior to whites.

Scopes Trial

-John Scopes was put on trial for illegally teaching the theory of evolution in his biology class, breaking a Tennessee law known as the “Butler Act.”

-The trial became a national sensation, drawing famous attorneys to support each side.

-The jury found Scopes guilty and he had to pay a $100 fine.

• Charles Lindbergh

-piloted the 1st solo transatlantic flight in 1927

-became an inspiration for commercial aviation that developed in the late 1920s

Talkie

a movie with sound and dialogue

• Jazz Singer

1st full-length film produced with a soundtrack.

KDKA

first radio station was built in 1920 and based out of Pittsburgh, PA.  

By 1930, 1 in 3 homes had a radio

• Henry Ford

By using mass production, Ford made his Model T car affordable for the average American and spurred economic growth for the nation. 

• Impact of mass production on price of automobiles

The mass production of products with assembly lines allowed American businesses to make them more cheaply for consumers.