Did America become more intolerant during the 1920’s Essay

the States is the most baronful awkward in the world and prides itself in being a melting pot of different cultures but has that ever so been true of the States. I would like to argue that during the 1920s the States became less(prenominal) tolerant of anythingUn-American. I would like to mention immigration policy, the Ku Klux Klan, political furor and Religious superstition.Before 1917 America had an open door policy toward immigration but thousands of immigrants were pouring in from eastern European, Asian, and African countries which the WASPS (White Anglo Saxon Pro exa humansts), who had power at the time, didnt want in America. After 1917 a literacy analyze was introduced so all immigrants had to be able to read and write in English to be allowed in to the country which discriminated against non English speaking countries and poorer countries where plurality couldnt afford to learn English, and so the open door began to close.In 1921 the do of immigrants was still a ma jor problem to the WASPS and the immigration quota conduct was introduced that only allowed three snow and fifty s sluice thousand immigrants into the regular army each year. It also stated the amount of flock emigrating from a particular country should not exceed three percent of the number of batch from that country already living in America in 1910. This formation also discriminated against countries undesirable to the WASPS since they had the smallest population already living in America in 1910.The open door closed further in 1924 when the amount of immigrants allowed into America was reduced to two percent of the population in 1890 and in 1929 when the total number of immigrants from any country was reduced to one hundred and fifty thousand people from any country to be allowed into America per year. The purpose of these laws was to value the interests of the WASPS already in America who held power at the time but feared losing it to opposing groups such as Jews, Catho lics, Blacks, Communists and anarchists.Anformer(a) musical mode America was becoming more intolerant during the 1920s was through the Ku Klux Klan, an governing body riged by a Texan dentist named Hiram Wesley Evans and its main aim was to protect white supremacy and the interests of the WASPS. During the 1920s when racial and political intolerance was at a peak membership rocketed to 5 million. The Klan was strongest in the southern states, which had previously been the slave states, and hatred for the blacks was heightened as whites and blacks were now competing for jobs, houses and land.The clan put its views across using extreme violence, for instance, should a black man get a job over a white man the white man would have a word with the Klan, the Klan would pay the black man a visit and the next day the black man would resign so the white man could have the job, in other cases the Klan would organise lynchings where mobs would veer the streets looking for a disliked ethn ic minority person to impersonate up and possibly kill. Membership of the Klan was limited to American WASPS and no other ethnic groups could join.Another aspect of American intolerance was fear of innovation or Red scare. In 1920 approximately 150,000 Americans had communist or anarchist views which represented 0.1 percent of the population of America but many Americans feared communist or anarchist revolution more than anything else. Communism and anarchy were feared so as communist and anarchist extremists were seen to arrange trade union demonstrations which were expound by the papers as communist demonstrations, an anarchist shot chair McKinley dead twenty years previously, Russia had become a communist country in 1917 and the Palmer incident of 1920.In June 1920 an unidentified man left a bomb outside the house of the attorney ordinary, A Mitchell Palmer which resulted in the ending of the bomber. The attack was presumed to be a communist assassination attempt payable to a copy of a communist newspaper being found in the vicinity of the blast, which may have been discarded there innocently or planted by Palmer to use the attack to stir up hatred for communists who were regarded as a threat to the American constitution and the WASPS in general. The attack resulted in A Mitchell Palmer heading raids on communists and anarchists that resulted in hexad thousand stupefys and only two prosecutions for firearms offences.Another cause of political intolerance in the 1920s was the case of Sacco and Vanzetti. Sacco and Vanzetti were charged with a wages looting in which two guards were shot dead. Sacco and Vanzetti were both recent immigrants from Italy, neither rung very good English, both were carrying loaded guns when arrested (although this is no crime in the USA even today) and most importantly both harboured anarchist views. two men were put on trial with a highly bias Judge and a jury made up of WASPS, who in general disliked Anarchists and any thing un-American. The evidence for the defence of Sacco and Vanzetti far outweighed the evidence against them and the prosecution even used the fact that Sacco was carrying an anarchist leaflet at the time of arrest against them. Even though Sacco and Vanzetti were probably innocent the jury found them immoral and the pair were executed on the twenty fourth of August 1927.The final aspect of American intolerance in the 1920s I am going to write about is religious intolerance. Throughout the 1920s perform attendance across America was falling, especially on the urban areas. This demented many religious Americans and some of the more extreme people founded evangelist groups with the aim of getting American people back into the church.A flush example of an extreme revivalist and probably one of the most ren testifyed was Sister Aimee Semple McPherson. Sister Aimee was head of the Four square gospel bail bond and she often led services of over five thousand people dressed as an angel and beating time to the hymns on a tambourine. Sister Aimee used the frenzy created during her sermons to make the incurable think they were senior and walk out of wheelchairs and leave crutches behind. Sister Aimee became a millionaire from collections taken during her services.many Americans also became intolerant to non-American religious views such as Darwins conjecture of evolution. Darwins theory of evolution says that humans evolved from apes over millions of years and the word of honor states that the world was created in 4004 BC by god in vi days. Darwins theory had caused great controversy in the mid-nineteenth century and was broadly speaking accepted across the board but as intolerance grew in the 1920s people began to doubt this theory and the old arguments flared up again.In 1924 strong fundamentalists (who were against Darwins theory) set up the anti-evolution league with the aim of devising it illegal to teach the theory of evolution. Even though the ide a seems middling farfetched the anti evolution league succeeded in six states. In Dayton, Tennessee two teachers, freedom fighter Scopes and his college decided to put the new law to test and for Johnny Scopes to teach the theory of evolution to his class and his college to sue him for wear out of the law. Johnny Scopes taught his class the theory of evolution and was subsequently arrested and put on trial.The two sides hijacked the trial and it became Christian fundamentalism on trail rather than Johnny Scopes. Benefactors from both sides of the argument hired two of the best attorneys in America to fight the Monkey trial (as the press called it). During the trial the defence attorney questioned the prosecution lawyer on flaws in the biblical theory he couldnt explain to which the prosecution lawyer replied, I am not satisfied by any evidence I have seen. The unbelieving continued like this until the press began making fun of the prosecution lawyer and the judge put a stop to it. Johnny Scopes was found guilt-ridden of breaking the law and fined one hundred dollars.These are the main reasons for which I believe the United States of America was becoming more intolerant during the 1920s. I particularly believe the American immigration policy, the Ku Klux Klan and the Red Scare contributed greatly to the views of many Americans and all the intolerance was down to the selfishness of the WASPS who wanted to protect their own supremacy, wealth, beliefs and interests.