Roaring 20s Essay
"Which were the more typical of 1920s America: prohibition and intolerance or the Jazz Age and increasing social freedom?
The Roaring 20s
The 1920s are most commonly known as the roaring 20s due to the many changes and revolutions during this decade. Women were issued the right to vote at the end of the previous decade and there was a strong resurgence of nativism that led to progressivism and social freedom. HOWEVER, AMERICA IN THE 1920s WAS MOST TYPICALLY CHARACTERIZED BY PROHIBITION AND INTOLERANCE.
Intolerance
In the 1920s there was a great sense of intolerance towards foreigners and other un-American political ideas. The Red Scare from 1919 to 1921, was a period of general fear of communists and all forms of socialism, that followed the beginning of passing acts against immigration in the path leading to isolationism. This also led to Palmer Raids in which more than 500 foreign citizens were deported. Both of these events confirmed the growing belief that the US was under threat from new immigrants. In order to diminish this fear, the Ku Klux Klan reappeared through the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Joining the Klan was seen as patriotic and the Klan claimed that they were preserving American traditional moral values. By 1924, the membership rose to 4 million people, many of them holding positions as state assemblymen, sheriffs, and judges. Intolerance in the 1920s was successful and prominently affected the lives of many Americans and foreigners.
Prohibition
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was one of the most successful prohibition pressure groups of the 20s. They mostly worked towards the prohibition of all alcoholic beverages due to the effects it had on their husbands and therefore how it affected them. They were supported by the Anti-Saloon League to get pro-prohibition candidates nominated. Prohibition was also seen as patriotic because most of the beer brewers were of German origin. The 18th Amendment was passed and declared the
The Roaring 20s
The 1920s are most commonly known as the roaring 20s due to the many changes and revolutions during this decade. Women were issued the right to vote at the end of the previous decade and there was a strong resurgence of nativism that led to progressivism and social freedom. HOWEVER, AMERICA IN THE 1920s WAS MOST TYPICALLY CHARACTERIZED BY PROHIBITION AND INTOLERANCE.
Intolerance
In the 1920s there was a great sense of intolerance towards foreigners and other un-American political ideas. The Red Scare from 1919 to 1921, was a period of general fear of communists and all forms of socialism, that followed the beginning of passing acts against immigration in the path leading to isolationism. This also led to Palmer Raids in which more than 500 foreign citizens were deported. Both of these events confirmed the growing belief that the US was under threat from new immigrants. In order to diminish this fear, the Ku Klux Klan reappeared through the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Joining the Klan was seen as patriotic and the Klan claimed that they were preserving American traditional moral values. By 1924, the membership rose to 4 million people, many of them holding positions as state assemblymen, sheriffs, and judges. Intolerance in the 1920s was successful and prominently affected the lives of many Americans and foreigners.
Prohibition
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was one of the most successful prohibition pressure groups of the 20s. They mostly worked towards the prohibition of all alcoholic beverages due to the effects it had on their husbands and therefore how it affected them. They were supported by the Anti-Saloon League to get pro-prohibition candidates nominated. Prohibition was also seen as patriotic because most of the beer brewers were of German origin. The 18th Amendment was passed and declared the