Fear and Isolationism in the 1920’s Unit 3, Section 1: Life and Politics in the 1920’s

World War I affected the way Americans viewed the world Isolationism, a policy of pulling away from world affairs, resulted from the loss of blood and treasure in World War I Immigration was limited through the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which set limits on the number of immigrants that come from each country In particular, immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe was heavily reduced Immigration from Japan was stopped entirely

Rights in the 20’s Source - Immigration Guiding Question: How were rights infringed and upheld in the 1920’s Source: “A Letter Regarding Immigration Restrictions” Step 1: Highlight/underline and summarize the source Step 2: Identify and summarize the bias of the source Step 3: Contextualize the source Is there anything in this source that explains better something that you already knew or had heard about? Is there anything in this source that disagrees with something you already knew or had heard about? What questions does this source raise that are connected with the guiding question?

Americans became fearful of Communism in the 1920’s Communism: All political and economic power is controlled by the central government The communist revolution in Russia led many to fear that the revolutionaries might overthrow the US government A series of mail bombs set off a crackdown on Communists in the US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer ordered raids and arrests of known or suspected communists

Rights in the 20’s Source – Palmer Raids Guiding Question: How were rights infringed and upheld in the 1920’s Source: “Instructions Regarding Conduct on Raids” Step 1: Highlight/underline and summarize the source Step 2: Identify and summarize the bias of the source Step 3: Contextualize the source Is there anything in this source that explains better something that you already knew or had heard about? Is there anything in this source that disagrees with something you already knew or had heard about? What questions does this source raise that are connected with the guiding question?

Returning soldiers found that women and minorities, including immigrants, had taken a larger role in the workforce This led to increases in racism and nativism (prejudice against foreign-born people)

Rights in the 20’s Source – Nativism Guiding Question: How were rights infringed and upheld in the 1920’s Source: “Bartolomeo Vanzetti’s Speech to the Jury” Step 1: Highlight/underline and summarize the source Step 2: Identify and summarize the bias of the source Step 3: Contextualize the source Is there anything in this source that explains better something that you already knew or had heard about? Is there anything in this source that disagrees with something you already knew or had heard about? What questions does this source raise that are connected with the guiding question?

Guiding Question: How were rights infringed and upheld in the 1920’s Which of these sources do you think is the most useful for answering the guiding question? Why? Which of these sources do you think is the least useful for answering the guiding question? Why?