Politics in the 1920's

Nativism & Immigration

The fear of Red and the revived KKK lead to an increase in Nativism. Basically nativism is an anti-foreign, anti-immigration belief; and the ideal of taking away the political and economic freedoms of foreigners. During the 1920's Nativists focused their attention on religious and racial nativism, being against Catholics, Jews, and Europeans. Americans did not want a spread of communism or out-of-norm religious beliefs, and with the KKK being such a large group, they both influenced the restriction of immigration in the Immigration Act of 1924. The Act limited the number of immigrants per country, and actually completely banned immigration from Asia.

Important Supreme Court Cases

Clarence Darrow

Gitlow vs. New York

Adkins vs. Children's Hospital

(1925)

Monkey Trial

(1923)

Clarence Darrow was

the defender for Scopes

and was one of the reasons

the trial was so publicized

since he was a renowned

lawyer at this time. Though

Scopes was found guilty,

the charges were later dropped

on a technicality.

(1925)

The KKK Revival

This case was an important stepping stone for women. In 1918 there was a law passed regulating the minimum wage for women and children. Workers of a Children's Hospitals and a hotel both went against the enforcement of this law by Jesse C. Adkins. The Supreme Court ruled that the minimum wage law for women was unconstitutional and a violation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.

The Monkey Trial of 1925, also known as the Scopes Trial, was the case of teacher, John T. Scopes in Dayton, Tennessee. He was indicted for teaching evolution to his students, which was a big controversy at this time, especially in the Bible Belt South where religion was everything. The case is one of the most important instances of the feud between Fundamentalism and Modernism.

The case of Benjamin Gitlow, who was convicted for publishing the "Left Wing Manifesto" in a newspaper for which he was a manager. Following the Red Scare many Americans were afraid of socialists and anarchists and many of them were convicted for their writings. This case was a huge test of the First Amendment, the freedom of speech. The Supreme Court held that the government could "suppress or punish speech that directly advocates the unlawful overthrow of the government" and also held that the states' governments had the authority to withheld this specific Amendment.

The Red Scare

William Jennings Bryan

During the 1920's the Ku Klux Klan was revived back up with a passion. This time the Klan was not only anti black, but they were anti everything that wasn't strictly American, strictly Anglo-Saxon, and strictly Protestant. They were against everything that was supposedly changing the traditional American lifestyle. During this decade the Klan reached 5 million members; they would hold huge parades on go on sprees of violence frequently.

During the 1920s there was a huge

decline in the labor union

movement, not only because of

the paranoia due to the Red Scare

but also because of an increase in

economic prosperity. Because of

stable prices there was no

incentive to join labor unions, and

from 1920 to 1929 there was a big

decrease in membership and in

the number of strikes.

The first Red Scare occurred between 1919 and 1921. This was a widespread fear of the spread of anarchism and worker unions (much like the Bolsheviks in Russia. This became a wide movement after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917. After this, paranoia about a spread of labor unions was a prominent thought in America, since they did not want labor unions to turn into anarchists or communists groups and change the political game in America.

Former silverite presidential candidate and Fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan led the prosecution against Scopes. Being highly against Darwinism and the concept

evolution it only fit he be there. His presence also lent to the highly publicized nature of the trial.

A big example of the Red Scare was the case of Nicola

Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The men were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery. This was controversial since the men were convicted though there was evidence to point to the fact that neither of the men were in town on the day of the robbery. The men were forced in court to admit to their anarchist backgrounds and it is speculated this could definitely be the reason the jury found them guilty.

Fundamentalism vs. Modernism

Civil Rights

This trial publicized the Fundamentalism vs. Modernism debate that was very prominent during this time. Modernists believe that evolution did not go against the beliefs of religion and should be allowed to be taught. Fundamentalists on the other hand believed evolution went against the teachings of God and the Bible. These groups created a deep debate over the Bible and its relevance during this decade, a debate that still lives on today.

Conclusion

Women's Rights in the 1920's

The Women Rights Movement took many big steps forward in the 1920's. With the passing of the 19th Amendment, granting women suffrage, and important Supreme Court decisions like Adkins vs. Children's Hospital and Leser vs. Garnett, the women were becoming important parts of society and their role would be ever changed.

The "Return to Normalcy"

The politics of the1920's began with the presidential election of 1920, and Warren G. Harding's promise of a "return to normalcy". He promised to return the US back to the prosperity and peace that existed before the war. And this promise is what won him the election with the American people.

Harding's Administration Corruption

President Warren G. Harding

With the nomination of Warren G. Harding in 1920 came a new political unrest. He placed the "best minds" into his cabinet but also placed many close friends, known as the Ohio Gang. Many cases of corruption turned up from his appointees including the Teapot Dome scandal and a scandal involving graft by important members of administration. Corruption was a large part in this presidency until Harding's sudden death in 1923, and many of his cabinet members involved served prison time for the scandals.

The Economy in the 1920's

Henry Ford

The "roaring twenties" are known for being a time of economic prosperity, and indeed it was. With technological advancements and the rise of automobiles, airplanes, films, television, and radio; the American people were having a good decade. This time is known as the rise of mass production and mass consumption; since the economy was doing well the American people (not just the wealthy) were able to improve their standard of living. With advertising they saw things that they wanted to buy, and boy did they buy them.

Prohibition

Consequences

The Prohibition movement began at the beginning of the 1800s and was an important part of American life for a very long time, just as the actual consumption of alcohol was. Lead by organizations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, the Prohibition movement played a vital role in politics beginning in the 1840's. They finally made a real impact with the passing of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act; both in 1920. The Amendment made the consumption, production, or sale of alcohol illegal and the Act sought ways to enforce the Amendment and determined which intoxicating beverages were prohibited.

The passing of the 18th Amendment greatly affected life in America in the 1920's. Because of this the institutions of speakeasies began and the art of bootlegging became a cherished profession. The Prohibition Amendment hardly did it's job as the government could not effectively enforce it and Americans everywhere were breaking the law just to get their fix. Along with the rise of bootleggers came the rise of the gangsters, prominent gangsters like notorious Al Capone raged rival gang wars, most of them over the control of the bootlegging industry. These gangs also went into other illegal activities like gambling, narcotics and prostitution. This rise in illegal activity is one of the prominent characteristics of this time and why it is sometimes referred to as the "lawless" decade

Politics in the 1920's