Edexcel History - Unit 3C Boom, Bust and Recovery

1.

Immigration and the KKK

2.

The KKK existed before WW1 suggesting WW1 did not lead to its proliferance. In 1877, the KKK managed to lynch 3,000 people.

3.

Nevertheless, the KKK supposedly became more popular after the War:

4.

1920 = 100,000 members

5.

1925 = 5 million members

6.

Germans were disliked. Their prevalence in breweries helped trigger Prohibition. Those with German sounding names faced popular abuse and ‘sauerkraut’ was renamed liberty cabbage.

7.

The war clearly encouraged the anti-immigration movement and the Red Scares of the 1920s.

8.

The Red Scare saw 6000 arrests, also known as the ‘Palmer Raids’. The Scare died in 1920 when Palmer falsely claimed there would be a huge Communist demonstration in NYC.

9.

Legislation:

10.

The Immigration Act 1917 - Raised price of entry and added literacy tests, where you had to read 30-80 words to pass. Also, no criminals or homosexuals allowed.

11.

The Emergency Quota Act 1921 - Restricted the number of immigrants to 337,000 a year. Only 3 per cent of the total population of any overseas group already in the USA in 1910 could come in after 1921.

12.

The National Origins Act 1924 – This law reduced the maximum number of immigrants to 150,000 per year and cut the quota to 2 per cent, based on the population of the USA in 1890.

13.

Case of Sacco & Vanzetti : two Italian immigrants found guilty of murder and theft sentenced to death in 1927 - they were both anarchists who opposed WW1, and it is likely that this affected the ruling of their case

1.

Prohibition

2.

1917 Lever Act - grain was scarce after WW1 so this Act limited its use in the production of alcohol

3.

Racism towards Germans as a result of the war led to Prohibition as many brewers were of German descent

4.

After WW1, people wanted to enter a ‘brave new world’. It was thought alcohol would lead returning soldiers to temptation.

1.

Limitations on freedom

2.

The Espionage Act, June 1917

3.

Made it illegal to attempt to obstruct military recruitment through the draft and to encourage ‘disloyalty'

4.

The Sedition Act, May 1918

5.

Made it illegal to discourage people from buying war bonds or verbally attacking the Constitution and the war effort. 1,500 were jailed as a consequence.

1.

Women

2.

Women’s suffrage was given in August 1920.

3.

Women’s groups promoted flapper culture and Anti-Flirt Leagues.

4.

By 1928, there were 145 women in 38 state legislatures. 2 women had been elected to the House of Representatives in Washington and 2 women served as state governors in succession of their husbands.

1.

Secularism in education

2.

John Scopes trial 1925

3.

In 1925, the Tennessee Legislature passed a law making it illegal for a public schools “to teach any theory that denies the story of Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.”

4.

Teacher John Scopes decided to teach a lesson on evolution anyway.

5.

The Scopes trial began on July 10 1925, bringing far more attention than expected. Some 200 national reporters arrived in Dayton, Tennessee. Tourists and vendors (selling toy monkeys) arrived. It took the jury fewer than 10 minutes to find Scopes guilty, he was fined $100.