1. What were the New Lifestyle & Values of the 1920s?
U.S. History & Government
11th Grade Boys/Girls
29 August 2019

2. Rural & Urban Differences
1920 Census
Conservative social standards
Hard work
More Americans were living in the cities than in small towns
Thriftiness
Close families
People left farms in increasing numbers and moved to cities
Good neighborly relations
Following Church teachings
Small-Town Values

3. Urbanization & Urban values
There were over 65 cities with population of 100,000 or more
NYC, Philadelphia & Chicago became huge
New City Values:
Population Diversity:
Openness to new ideas in art, science & politics
Night outing, drinking and gambling, casual dating
Fast-paced, impersonal and lonely life

4. New Movement and problems
Prohibition Movement: a result of the clash of urban & rural values
18th Amendment prohibited Alcoholic beverages in 1920.
Support came from religious rural White Protestants from south and west

5. Problems generated by Prohibition
Enforcement was difficult
Growth of Speakeasies
Hidden saloons and nightclubs that served alcohol illegally
Smuggling by Bootleggers
People who smuggled alcohol into the U.S. from Canada & the Caribbean
Created a chain of corruption by bribing police and judges

6. General Disrespect for Law
Great deal of money to flow out of legal businesses to organized crime
Underground gangs of illegal liquor business
Al Capone of Chicago
21st Amendment repelled the 18th amendment

7. Science & Religion Clash
Rise of Christian Fundamentalism in the 1920s
Religious movement based on the belief that everything in the Bible is literally true
Rejected growing trust of Americans in science
Opposed the religions of immigrants
Opposed evolutionary theory and wanted it to be stopped from being taught

8. 1925: Tennessee made it illegal to teach Theory of Evolution
John Scopes, a biology teacher, was charged with the crime
ACLU supported Scopes and Hired Clarence Darrow to fight for him
Scopes Trial got a lot of media attention
Scopes was found guilty.

9. Home work
Questions 1, 2 & 5 on page 645