American History Chapter 22: The New Era Sources: American History: Connecting with the Past (Fifteenth Edition) Give Me Liberty!: An American History (Third Edition) American Pageant (Fourteenth Edition) America: A Concise History (Fourth Edition) The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents
Ch. 23 Review: The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti illustrated America s fear of (A) African-American migration to northern cities (B) The reemergence of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (C) The growing support for women s suffrage (D) Immigrants who possessed radical or leftist beliefs
The Roaring Twenties (also known as the Jazz Age) The 1920s was a decade filled with sharp contrasts between Prohibition laws and speakeasy nightclubs, modern science and fundamentalist religion, economic boom and financial bust, popular heroes and social villains.
Technological Developments of the 1920s Key Concept 7.2 (IA) Radios and phonographs brought mass entertainment into Americans living rooms. These technological developments helped to create and spread a new celebrity culture, in which recording, film, and sports stars moved to the top of the list of American heroes.
Henry Ford American industrialist that developed the assembly line and mass produced the first passenger car the Model-T which revolutionized transportation in the US. Ford practiced welfare capitalism and paid his workers top wages to minimize turnover and maximize efficiency. Ford was notoriously anti-union and Ford Motor Co was the last of the major American car companies to allow collective bargaining. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Mass-Production Techniques Key Concept 7.2 (IA) The automobile was the backbone of economic growth. The automobile industry stimulated the expansion of steel, rubber, and oil production, road construction, and other sectors of the economy. It promoted tourism and the growth of suburbs and helped to reduce rural isolation. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Impact of the Automobile Industry Key Concept 7.2 (IA) The automobile industry helped stimulate the U.S. economy in the 1920s because it increased demand for products such as steel, rubber, and gasoline. Also, new roads were being built, along with gas stations and garages. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
The Limits of Prosperity Labor: Improved productivity meant that goods could be produced with fewer workers. Parts of New England experienced chronic unemployment caused by deindustrialization. During the 1920s, organized labor lost more than 2 million members. Propaganda campaigns continued to link unionism and socialism as examples of the sinister influence of foreigners on American life. Farmers: For the first time in the nation s history, the number of farms and farmers declined during the 1920s. Half of the farmers in Montana lost their land to foreclosure between 1921 and 1925. Income Gap: At the beginning of 1929, the share of national income of the wealthiest 5 percent of American families exceeded that of the bottom 60 percent.
Shaping a National Culture: Advertising Key Concept 7.2 (IA) Glorification of Consumption Spending becomes cultural ideal rather than thrift emergence of installment plans Consumption becomes cultural ideal rather than production Possession of goods replaces cultural ideals of character, religion, and social standing Impact on Women Alters image of beauty, sells idea that beauty can be purchased Changes is labor, more leisure time due to new devices Makes sexuality, smoking, drinking more acceptable for women Focus on creating dissatisfactions with one s body, status, etc
Shaping a National Culture: Entertainment Key Concept 7.2 (IA) Entertainment: movies, radio, phonographs, juke boxes, jazz, Harlem Renaissance, cars, professional sports, national magazines Impacts: media influences national trends, changes courting rituals, leisure time, home life, diffuses secular ideas and values, changes image of women (flappers, open sexuality, smoking, dancing, drinking, independence), promotes cult of celebrity Postwar Cynicism: Lost Generation writings (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Sinclair Lewis, H.L. Mencken)
Shaping a National Culture: Mass Production Mass Production: more affordable consumer products, mass distribution, national brand names, brand loyalties, middle class salaries rise, prices fall, auto production stimulates other industries Impact on Workers: further impact of Taylorism due to mechanization of production, declining need for cheap immigrant labor, declining union membership, labor-saving devices increase leisure time
Origins of Jazz
Origins of Jazz Key Concept 7.2 (IC) Louis Armstrong Bix Beiderbecke
Harlem Renaissance (1920s) Key Concept 7.2 (IC) Harlem Renaissance: An African American literary awakening in the 1920 s. In the 1920s, Harlem became the focal point of intellectual, cultural, and artistic Black community. This renaissance was the first time Black artists and thinkers produced works that focused on what it meant to be Black in America. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
The Lost Generation (1920s) A group of writers disillusioned by WWI, the Lost Generation rejected pop culture and the quest for material possessions. Famous writers of the Lost Generation include F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) and Ernest Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises). Some members left the country to live in Paris.
Challenges to Traditional Beliefs and the Rise of Cultural Tensions Key Concept 7.2 (IB) older generation vs. young generation urban vs. rural wets vs. drys fundamentalism vs. modernism native-born vs. immigrants management vs. labor idealism vs. disillusionment
Prohibition (18 th Amendment) (enforced by the Volstead Act) CAUSES Eliminate drunkenness Get rid of saloons, where vice thrived Prevent absenteeism/on the job accidents EFFECTS Rise of speakeasies and bootleggers further fuel hostilities with immigrants development of organized crime (ex: Al Capone) provide women with experience in political mobilization.
Scopes Trial (The Monkey Trial) Dayton, Tennessee 1925 Scopes Trial: John Scopes challenged Tennessee law banning teaching of evolution as unconstitutional. (first trial broadcast on radio) William Jennings Bryan: supported fundamentalism, joins prosecution Clarence Darrow: supported free speech, joins defense The trial was a clash between modern and traditional beliefs, and the legal right at issue is the right to teach evolution in schools. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Scopes Trial: Clarence Darrow Renowned labor lawyer and defense attorney, Darrow defended John Scopes for teaching about evolution in a science class in Tennessee. The Scopes Monkey Trial tested the Tennessee state law prohibiting public school teachers from denying the biblical account of man s origin. While Scopes was found guilty, the trial captured the attention of the nation in the ongoing modernist vs. traditional debate. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Scopes Trial: William Jennings Bryan Three-time democratic candidate for president, Bryan was a nationally known populist, supporter of traditional values, and evangelical Christian. After successfully campaigning for antievolution laws in 15 states, Bryan joined the prosecution in the Scopes Monkey Trial. The Scopes Monkey trial was the first legal proceeding to be broadcast on the radio. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
H.L. Mencken H.L. Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, and critic of American culture. He was skeptical of economic theories and particularly critical of anti-intellectualism, bigotry, populism, Fundamentalist Christianity, creationism, organized religion, and the existence of God. His writings remain popular today.
Rise of Nativism: 1900-1930 Key Concept 7.2 (IIC) New Immigrants from southern and eastern Europe Ethnicities, religions, languages are different Job competition, immigrants work for lower wages Impact of Social Darwinism Red Scare and the Palmer Raids, fear of communism Anti-German sentiment during and after WWI No performances of German music, removal of German names 1920s Nativism: KKK Tie between support for Prohibition and anti-foreign sentiment Emergency Quota Act of 1921 National Origins Act of 1924
Immigration Quotas Key Concept 7.2 (IIC) WWI and the Red Scare that followed renewed strong nativist sentiments in the US resulting in legislation in the early 1920s that restricted immigration by establishing a quota system. These measures were supported by labor unions because of fears of unemployment caused by WWI demobilization, possible wage reductions, and continued damage control after the Red Scare (To many Americans, immigrants = radicals). Emergency Quota Act of 1921: quota for immigrants from Europe set at 3% (of 1910 population) Immigration Act of 1924: quotas for foreigners cut to 2% (of 1890 population) U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Pros and Cons of laissez-faire The 1920s was a very conservative decade in regard to business and economics. PROS CONS beneficial to entrepreneurial spirit due to lack of taxes, rules, regulations. allows for monopolies, which doesn't benefit society. lots of incentive for profit, and in theory the invisible hand benefits all of society. Few regulations for working conditions, wages, etc...
Predictions: What is this cartoon about?
Teapot Dome Scandal Teapot Dome Scandal: a bribery incident during the administration of President Warren G. Harding (early 1920s). Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall leased petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome to private oil companies without competitive bidding. Considered one of the worst scandals in US history, Teapot Dome helped to permanently damage the image of President Harding. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Environmental Decay During the Roaring Twenties Key Concept 6.1 (IIIA) After the Russian Revolution of 1917, wheat exports were no longer available from Russia s vast plains. To compensate for the shortfall, Americas increased their agricultural production two and a half times the 1914 level, cultivating an additional 5 million acres of new land between 1925 and 1930. Unfortunately, much of this land was unsuitable for such intensive use and the results were disastrous the Great Dust Bowl of the 1930s. As with wood, seals, and whales, Americans hade overexploited a resource for short-term gain. (Presidential neglect of environmental issues changed dramatically with the arrival of President Herbert Hoover in 1929.)
Personal Debt and Playing the Stock Market: Foreshadowing the Great Depression One reason people overextended their use of credit in the stock market during the late 1920s was that they believed they would make quick profit and be able to repay their debts. U.S. HISTORY: MR. ROLOFSON
Which of the following events illustrates the nativist sentiments of the 1920s? (A) The reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan and the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924 (B) The passage of the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment (C) The Washington Naval Conference and the Kellogg- Briand Pact (D) The works produced by the Lost Generation and the Harlem Renaissance
All of the following were an outgrowth of the automobile revolution EXCEPT (A) the increased dependence of women on men. (B) the spread of suburbs. (C) a loss of population in less attractive states. (D) altered youthful sexual behavior.