The 1920s are the years America gets a chance to embrace modernism. This process is curtailed by the recurrence of Immigration restrictions, the Ku Klux Klan and the clash between religion and science. The introduction of immigration limitations is due to the fear that immigrants would influence American custom, language, and religion. Consequently, it results in divergent opinions on rural and urban lifestyle, thereby necessitating the creation of laws to limit the number of immigrants entering the United States. The Ku Klux Klan also resurfaces to protect America’s moral authority over the immigrants' influence. The Klan’s objective is to reestablish the real America by having white supremacy. The new Klan attacked black people but also Jews, foreigners, and Catholics. Their activities are marred with violence, running charity events, making donations in churches, and recruiting members to the organizations. Their influence spans from protestant church and political leadership. Modernity is also derailed by the conflict between science and religion where there is a dispute in the origin of man. Science proponents support Darwin’s evolution theory while the Christians believe God created human beings as illustrated in the Bible. It sparks reaction after John Scope is charged for teaching public schools on the evolution. Arguments arise on whether religion should influence the laws of the nations. These dogmas have contributed to the criticisms modernity has faced.
Recurrence Of Immigration Constraints
During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth-century America was characterized by immigration. Many immigrants came from east and southern Europe. This was due to the progression of postwar urbanization. It resulted in the growth of new languages, religions, and customs. The cities were growing, and the immigrant population increased. As a result, there was anxiety and racial hostility among Americans. As people moved to the cities, the people left in the periphery believed their life was endangered. Fundamentalism was explicitly evident in rural states that opposed change (Eagles, 2010). As a result, there was a conflict between the economic minorities and the urban industrial majority. It saw some Americans incorporating nativism, which valued white Americans. They favored their local customs rejecting external influences. It saw the emergence of immigration restriction laws to safeguard the essence of American Homogeneity. The Emergency Immigration Act of 1921 was introduced to limit the number of European immigration. They established a quota system where annual immigration of a country was restricted to 3 percent of its citizens referring to the 1910 census. Additionally, they initiated the National Origins Act of 1924, which lowered the levels to 2 percent of the census conducted in 1890. As a result, the immigrants from the east and southern Europe were abridged. The bill gained support from the Ku Klux Klan and the labor unions.
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Rebirth Of The Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan was an organization formed by the former confederate soldiers plus other southerners. There objective was to oppose the reconstruction of America after the Civil War (Pegram, 2011). The organization was disbanded but later emerged in the twentieth century. Joseph Simmons who sold membership to fraternal organizations, ignited the new Ku Klux Klan. The older organization used to target black population, but the new one included the Jews, foreigners, and Catholics. They supported fundamentalism and patriotism while promoting white supremacy. The organization was opposed to the changing America that was shifting from a rural agricultural community to an urban industrial country. Therefore they harmed academics, people who supported urbanism and the elites. The movement gained massive backing, and supporters came from all classes in society. They dressed in white robes and hood as recognition for their association. Their membership included protestant ministers, public officials, noticeable, and ordinary citizens. For instance, in Monticello, the county clerk, treasurer, coroner, county school superintendent, city marshal, and the sheriff were members.
The Klan attracted membership owing to social, political, and fraternal motives. This is because they feared the European immigrants who were pro-communism and various revolutionary political principles that had swayed Catholics and American Jews (Pegram, 2011). They were opposed to sexual freedoms for the women and the perception of immorality brought by the non-natives. Consequently, they opposed the sale and consumption of alcohol. Moreover, they controlled better-paying jobs in Alabama and resisted labor unions. For instance, they disrupted the Congress Industrial Organizations that supported industrial unions to allow African American members (Boundless, n.d). They, therefore, struggled to reestablish true Americanism. It saw them condemn cultural influences and teaching of evolution in public schools. They engaged in violence where they participated in murder and whipping those that did not align with their ideology. Additionally, they lynched black people and beat young women that accompanied men for a car ride. They did this to restore America’s morality. Their influence spread as they ran charity drives and donated money in churches. They even supported the candidates for several state and local positions.
Religion Versus Science
In 1925 there was a contention between religion and science. John Scope, a biology teacher, known for his teaching on evolution. America has persisted Christianity beliefs throughout its history. The majority was protestant Christians known for fundamentalism, where they followed the rules of the Bible, but another group of people believed in the reasoning and understanding to advance existence (Burgan, 2010). They believed in God but also combined their beliefs with community life. This led to the amendment the recognized freedom of worship and discouraged the government from support one religion over the other. Besides this law, the Americans continued to view their nation as Christian, specifically protestant. Therefore a threat to their Christian beliefs was not tolerated. For instance, the Darwinian theory of evolution that was supported by John Scope. The method argued that human beings evolved from simple organisms and were not created by God. According to fundamentalist, this was not correct, and it weakened the Christian faith. The fundamentalist believed that God created humans plus all life on earth.
When Scope supported Darwin’s theory, it led to a legal battle between the fundamentalists and those who supported the teaching of the theory in public schools. It brought a tassel between religion and science. Scope was charged for going against Tennessee’s Butler Act that prohibited teachings of evolution in the public schools (Burgan, 2010). Fundamentalists influenced the creation of this law. The law indicated that any schools that received federal money should not adopt teaching that contradicts the divine nature as illustrated in the Bible. The changes saw some commentators of the constitution arguing that religion should not be used as foundations for laws. Therefore the American Civil Liberties Union viewed the Butler Act as a constraint to the freedom of speech and academics. Consequently, the fundamentalists argued that they had a say on what was taught in school because their taxes were channeled there. The science proponents claimed that religion undermined America’s modernity by limiting inquiry for the truth. The effect of the trial brought a division between those who believed in the Bible’s creation theory and those that supported evolution.
In conclusion, American society is very sensitive to adopting foreign ideas and beliefs. They prefer maintaining their culture without disruption from immigrants. That is why the Ku Klux Klan, although using undeserved methods tried to preserve the morality of Americans by opposing actions that went against their beliefs. Additionally, they view foreigners as opportunists who will take advantage of their resources, denying them a chance to progress. They consequently limit the number of foreigners entering the United States. Religion also played an essential role in the decisions that the American society made. It includes constitutional laws that were guided by the teachings of the Bible because they were predominantly Christians. The conflict that occurred in the 1920s can be blamed on the belief the people ascribed to. It is hard to accept change when one’s beliefs contradict the revolution.
Reference
Boundless. (n.d.). Boundless US History. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-ushistory/chapter/resistance-to-change/
Burgan, M. (2010). The Scopes Trial: Faith, Science, and American Education (Vol. 2). Marshall Cavendish.
Eagles, C. W. (2010). Democracy delayed: Congressional reapportionment and urban-rural conflict in the 1920s . University of Georgia Press.
Pegram, T. R. (2011). One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s . Rowman & Littlefield.
