The 1920s opened with the difficult task of adjusting to peace. Disillusioned by the war, Americans wanted to return to their traditional policy of isolationism in foreign affairs-refusing to become involved in other nations’ problems.

The government stopped its wartime spending and soldiers returned home from war looking for jobs. Factories returned to civilian production and farmers lost their markets in Europe. These factors led to a temporary economic recession in the United States.

 The 1920s began with an increase of anti-immigration and racist feeling, fueled by an economic recession and the arrival of immigrants.  The Red Scare, anarchist bombings, and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial contributed to the rise of nativism.

Nativism- a preference for native-born people and the desire to limit immigration.

The Great Migration had brought many blacks to the north. Chicago’s African American population more than doubled; Cleveland’s grew by three times. African Americans were still greeted by racism, housing shortages and crime. They created cities-within-cities.

The Ku Klux Klan found new life in Klan members were hostile to immigrants, Catholics, Jews and African Americans. Major race riots broke out just after the war in many American cities.

One perceived threat to American life was the spread of Communism. Communism is an economic and political system based on a single-governmental party, equal distribution of resources, no private property and rule by a dictatorship.

Russia was transformed into the Soviet Union in 1917, a Communist state. Vladimir Lenin led the Bolsheviks and overthrew the Czarist regime. He was a follower of the Marxist doctrine of social equality. A Communist party was formed in America, too.

Communists threatened to spread their revolution to other countries. When a wave of strikes hit the United states in 1919, many Americans feared this was the start of their own Communist revolutions. This “Red Scare” created an atmosphere of panic.

The anti-Communist hysteria affected immigrants as well. Two Italian immigrant men, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were accused of murder and theft. They were thought to be anarchists, or opposed to all forms of government. Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death, and in 1927 they were executed still proclaiming their innocence.

Nativists used the idea of eugenics, a pseudo-scientific belief that the human race could be improved by breeding. It was supposed that superior parents would have even better children. Eugenics led to forced sterilization, segregation laws, and marriage restrictions. This also added to the anti- immigrant feeling of the time and further promoted the idea of strict immigrant control.

From 1906 onward, at least 60,000 Americans were sterilized against their will. California and Virginia lead the nation in the number of sterilizations per state. The legal basis for these forced sterilizations was the so called science of Eugenics.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) led the movement to restrict immigration. This new Klan not only targeted the freed African Americans but also Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and other groups believed to have “un- American” values. Many Americans saw the influx of immigrants without skills, education, or a knowledge of English as a threat to the nation’s economic stability.

The Immigration Acts of 1921,1924, and 1929 were designed to keep out immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Emergency Quota Act of % quota. National Origins Act of 1924 limited immigration to 2 percent of the total number of people in any ethnic group already living in the United States.

People begin to link radical ideas and communism to immigrants Rise of Nativism in the United States Increase in KKK membership Quotas & limitations on immigration are put into place. S. & E. Europeans effected the most

Some who is a native born American, wants to limit immigration to the US What is a nativist?

Possible influence of Communism in the United States What was the Red Scare a reaction to?

National Origins Act Due to anti-immigrant feelings the government passed what act to limit immigration?

In June 1919, an Italian anarchist set off a bomb outside the home of Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. The bombing was one in a series of attacks that day on judges, politicians, and law enforcement officials in eight American cities. Palmer was convinced that a radical plot to overthrow the U.S. government was underway.

January 1920, Palmer ordered the round up of 4,000 suspects in several cities without warrants and without regard to constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure. His assistant J. Edgar Hoover, directed the raids Most of the men arrested were later released, but 600 were eventually deported.

In response to these civil liberties abuses, a small group of people decided to take a stand, and thus was born the American Civil Liberties Union. (ACLU) The ACLU of today continues to fight government abuse and to defend individual freedoms.

Immigrants What group were targeted in the Palmer Raids?

To protect peoples constitutional rights. Why was the American Civil Liberties formed in response to the Palmer Raids?

The Fundamentalist Movement Fundamentalist promoted the authority of the Bible and defended the Protestant faith. It was a movement based on literal interpretation of Bible. Fundamentalists were skeptical of some scientific discoveries & theories - Rejected theory of evolution.

 In 1925 Tennessee passed the Butler Act, prohibiting public school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man’s origins  It was against the law to teach Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.  John T. Scopes, a biology teacher, volunteered to test case challenge the constitutionality of the Butler Act by teaching evolution in his class with the support of the ACLU.

William Jennings Bryan Clarence Darrow  The Scopes “Monkey” Trial drew nationwide attention for pitting older religious beliefs against new scientific theories.  The Scopes trial became the first in American history to be broadcast over national radio.  In the end, Scopes was convicted for teaching evolution, but his $100 fine was later set aside.

A movement based on literal interpretation of the Bible. What is Fundamentalism?

Evolution over Biblical creation What did John Scopes teach in his biology class which challenged the Butler Act?