Social Tension In The 1920s Essay

During the 1920s, there were new changes brought upon the United States. These changes involved politics, economics, society, culture, and foreign policy. Not all of these new movements were helpful to the United States after World War I. Many social conflicts resulted from these new development and changes that were very crucial to the United States during this time.

In the society during the 1920s, prohibition was a major issue. Prohibition was started on January 16, 1919 which was the 18th amendment, a period where the sale, manufacture, or transport of alcoholic beverages became illegal. People were not happy with this law. However, even though this law was passed it was not followed or enforced. People found ways
It was causing social tension. During the 1920s, the United States sharply restricted foreign immigration for the first time in its history. Large inflows of foreigners long had created a certain amount of social tension, but most had been of Northern European stock and, if not quickly assimilated, at least possessed a certain commonality with most Americans. By the end of the 19th century, however, the flow was predominantly from southern and Eastern Europe. According to the census of 1900, the population of the United States was just over 76 million. Over the next 15 years, more than 15 million immigrants entered the country. Around two-thirds of the inflow consisted of “newer” nationalities and ethnic groups'' Russian Jews, Poles, Slavic peoples, Greeks, southern Italians. They were non-Protestant, non-“Nordic,” and, many Americans feared, nonassimilable. They did hard, often dangerous, low-pay work '' but were accused of driving down the wages of native-born Americans. Settling in squalid urban ethnic enclaves, the new immigrants were seen as maintaining Old World customs, getting along with very little English, and supporting unsavory political machines that catered to their needs. Nativists wanted to send them back to Europe; social workers