Changing Way of Changing Way of LifeLife

Rural and Urban Differences

• US changes from RURAL to Urban

• By 1920 51% of Americans lived in Towns or Cities

• New challenges between secular urban societies and traditional rural societies.

New Urban Scene

• New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia all have populations greater than 1 million.

Prohibition

• Clash between the secular and the moral traditional.

• 18th Amendment – Manufacture, Sale, and Transportation of Alcohol was illegal.

• Advocates believed drinking led to abuse, crime, accidents, and other social conditions.

• Volstead Act (1919) established the Prohibition Bureau in the Treasury Department.

• Only 1500 officers responsible for entire country.

Opposition to Prohibition

• Alcohol ingrained in American culture

• Immigrants don’t believe that it is a sin to drink.

• Many hidden saloons – Speakeasies

• Bootleggers bring in large quantities of alcohol.

Organized Crime

• Every major city had organized crime to “regulate” the production and distribution of alcohol.

• Gangs would often go to war over the territory that they could sell alcohol.

End of Prohibition

• By the mid 1920s, prohibition had minimal support in the US.

• Prohibition ends with the passage of the 21st Amendment in 1933.

Science and Religion Clash

• The traditional and modern clashed over the validity of scientific discovery.

• Fundamentalism – a protestant movement grounded in the literal interpretation of the bible.

Scopes Trial

• Biology Teacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution.

• ACLU hires Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes.

• Nick named “The Monkey Trial”

• Found guilty and fined $100

• Overturned

The 1920s….

• With clashes over evolution, the Prohibition experiment, and the emerging urban scene all were evidence of the changes and conflict occurring during the 1920s.

• During that period, women also experienced conflict as they redefined their roles and persued new lifestyles.