Chapter #31 Identifications
A. Mitchell Palmer - He led the Palmer raids against communists as a result of the red scare. He arrested 6000 people.
John T. Scopes - He was a biology teacher who was tried for teaching evolution in Tennessee.
Clarence Darrow - He defended John T. Scopes in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Andrew Mellon - He was the secretary of treasure. He implemented low tax policies, which stimulated growth.
Frederick W. Taylor - He promoted efficient workers. He timed workers and then fixed the things that were slowing them down and wasting time.
Margaret Sanger - She was a modern women who supported birth control for women.
H. L. Mencken - He was an author of American Monthly, who used wit to criticize society.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - He wrote This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby. He coined the term "Jazz Age" to describe the twenties. He wrote about the period's glamour and recklessness.
Ernest Hemingway - He wrote The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms. His works reflected the hollowness of young adults.
Sinclair Lewis - He wrote Main Street, which depicted small towns in America, and Babbitt, which showed the materialism of the twenties.
Buying on Margin - This was a practice that was very popular in the twenties. People would buy stocks on Wall Street with money they had borrowed. This eventually led to the stock market crash that resulted in the Great Depression.
Red Scare - It occured after World War 1 as a result of the communism in Russia and the growing popularity of the socialists. Thosuands of people were arrested and deported as a result of the Red Scare.
Sacco and Vanzetti Case - Sacco and Vanzetti were two Italian immigrant men who were accused of murder. Even though their alibis were fairly strong, they were executed. The case showed the anti-immigrant sentiment following World War 1.
Emergency Quota Act 1921 - It limited the number of immigrants coming to America to 3% of the immigrants already living in America.
Immigration Quota Act 1924 - It further limited the Emergency Quota Act to 2% of the immigrants living in America.
Volstead Act - It implemented the 18th amendment, which legalized the prohibition of alcohol. It was popular in the South and West, but not in the East. It was particulary disliked by immigrants.
Fundamentalism - They believed in the teachings of the Bible literally. They opposed the teaching of evolution in schools. It was strong in The Church of Christ and among Baptists.
Modernists - Religion had less importance to them as they were the direct opposite of the Fundamentalists.
Chapter #31 Guided Reading Questions
Seeing Red
Know: Billy Sunday, Red Scare, A. Mitchell Palmer, Sacco and Vanzetti
1. Cite examples of actions taken in reaction to the perceived threat of radicals and communists during the redscare.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, led the Palmer raids, which eventually rounded up 6000 people who's Americanism was questioned. Five members of the New York legislature were denied their seats because they were Socialists. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigranst, were executed for a crime of which little evidence was shown against them.
Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK
2. Compare and contrast the new and old Ku Klux Klansmen.
The old resembled the nativism movement of the 1850s. They were anti anyone who wasn't white, anglo-saxon, and Protestant. It was and still is especially popular in the Midwest adn South.
Stemming the Foreign Flood
Know:: Emergency Quota Act, Immigration Act
3. Describe the immigration laws passed in the 1920's.
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 limited the immigration quota to 3 percent of the people of a certain nationality already living in the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 reduced the previous quota to 2 percent based off the census of 1890 rather than 1910.
Makers of America: The Poles
Know: Prussian Poles, Russian Poles, Austrian Poles, American Warsaw
4. What factors led Poles to America?
Following the Civil War, America was in need of labor, which attracted the Poles. Poles who came in the late nineteenth century were primarily trying to escape starvation.
The Prohibition "Experiment"
Know: Eighteenth Amendment, Volstead Act, Wet and Dry, Speakeasies, Home Brew, Bathtub Gin, Noble Experiment
5. How and why was the eighteenth amendment broken so frequently?
Legislators who voted on prohibition drank in private. States adn federal agencies were too understaffed to strictly enforce prohibition. Bribery was also an easy way to get away with drinking. Liquor was also easily snuck in from foreign countries, such as Canada.
The Golden Age of Gangsterism
Know: Al Capone, St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Lindbergh Law
6. What was Gangsterism?
It emerged as a result of the prohibition era. Bribery of the police resulted in the formation of hundreds of mobs, particularlly in Chicago. A major source of money for gangs was through bootlegging, for which rival gangs often killed each other. Al Capone was a notorious gangster, most known for the St. Valentine's Day massacre in which 7 gang members were murdered.
Monkey Business in Tennessee
Know: John Dewey, John T. Scopes, William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow
7. Describe the clash of cultures that took place in schools in the 1920's.
The Fundamentalists emerged as a group of religionists, sternly against the teaching of Darwiniam evolution in schools. The Monkey Trial occured after Tennessee teacher, John T. Scopes, was arested for teaching evolution in class. He was prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan, a stout Fundamentalist.
The Mass-Consumption Economy
Know: Andrew Mellon, The Man Nobody Knows, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey
8. Give evidence to prove that America became a mass-consumption economy in the 20's.
As a result of increased productivity, the car became an everyday man's item. Advertisements also became popular to encourage more people to but things. Sporting events, such as baseball, also became a big business in the consumer economy. The process of buying on credit allowed more people to buy more items, since they did not have to pay for them immediately.
Putting America on Rubber Tires
Know: Henry Ford, Frederick W. Taylor, Model T
9. What methods made it possible to mass-produce automobiles?
Henry Ford developed the assembly-line production which greatly increased the prodution of automobiles. Stopwatch efficiancy techniques were the direct result of the inovation fo Frederick W. Taylor.
The Advent of the Gasoline Age
10. What were the effects of the widespread adoption of the automobile?
The automobile industry directly or indirectly employed 6 million people by 1930. The industries of rubber, glass, and fabrics were all necessary for the production of automobiles. The petroleum business exploded with hundreds of oil derricks shooting up throughout America. The railroads, however, were negatively affected by the popularity of the automobile for means of transportation. Automobiles also equalized the social dynamic, as the gap between the poor and the rich as well as men and women was shortened.
Humans Develop Wings
Know: Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Lindbergh
11. What effects did the early airplane have on America?
The successes of aviators, such as the Wright brothers adn Charles Lindbergh, popularized aircrafts, as it accomplished the age old dream of flying. Passenger airlines with the capibility of delivering mail as well, though costing people lives, also became more popularized. Aircrafts were also used in the Great War for various purposes.
The Radio Revolution
12. How did America change as the result of the radio?
The development of the radio drew people back to their homes, as families would gather together to listen to nightly broadcasts. Advertisements through radio also contributed to the consumer society. Music and sports were also popularized through means of radio. Americans could now listen to their politicians speeches and promises through the radio.
Hollywood's Filmland Fantasies
Know: The Great Train Robbery, The Birth of a Nation, The Jazz Singer
13. What were some milestones in the history of motion pictures?
The Great Train Robbery was the first movie to reach the five-cent theaters. Anti-German sentiment was also spread through movies. The first "talkie" emerged in the movie, The Jazz Singer. Some actors were paid more and were more well known than political leaders. Ethnic culture also lost some of it's strength as movies Americanized all people.
The Dynamic Decade
Know: Margaret Sanger, Flappers, Sigmund Freud, Jelly Roll Morton, Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey
14. "Far-reaching changes in lifestyles and values paralleled the dramatic upsurge in the economy." Explain.
In 1920. the census revealed that for the first time, more people lived in urban areas than in rural areas. Women continued to fight for their rights, as shown by Margaret Sanger, who promoted birth control for women. African Americans also gained more opportunities through the Harlem Renaissance, with people such as Langston Hughes finding success. Society also became more permissive as the theories of Sigmund Freud brought about more sexuality in society.
Cultural Liberation
Know: H. L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, e.e. cummings, Eugene O'Neill, Louis Armstrong, Frank Lloyd Wright
15. How did the arts of the 1920's reflect the times?
H.L. Mencken criticized every aspect of society in his American monthly. F. Scott Fitzgerald explored the Jazz Age in This Side of Paradise, which broadly appealed to the young generation, and The Great Gatsby, a tale of a self made man betrayed by those in the class he so desperately sought to be a part of. Ernest Hemingway, in A Farewell to Arms, showed the emptiness of life. Sinclair Lewis depicted small town America in Babbitt.
Wall Street's Big Bull Market
Know: Margin, Andrew Mellon
16. Was government economic policy successful in the 20's?
Government economic policy was somewhat successful, though not successful enough to prevent the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Bureau of the Budget was established to help manage the national debt. Secretary of Treasury, Andrew Melon, enforced taxes that relieved the economic burden on the rich and placed it on the middle class.