America: Opportunity and Inequality - Divided Society

Question 1

what was ‘Prohibition’?

Answer 1

• on the 16th of January 1920, a new law was introduced in America
• Prohibition, as the new law was known, prohibited any American from selling, making or transporting any drink containing more than 0.5 per cent alcohol

Question 2

why was Prohibition introduced?

Answer 2

• for many years, there had been a strong campaign against alcohol, led by pressure groups like the Anti-Saloon League
• many of these groups gained much of their support from religious organisations and churches that opposed alcohol because they claimed it caused a variety of social problems such as violence, poverty, addiction and debt
• they also said that alcohol was contributing to a decline in moral values and that America would be a better, healthier place if booze was banned

Question 3

what was the Prohibition actually called?

Answer 3

• officially the ban on alcohol is the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution

Question 4

how did the government enforce Prohibition?

Answer 4

• the government created 1500 ‘Prohibition agents’ to enforce the law
• their job was to locate places that continued to sell or make alcohol, then make arrests and confiscate the alcohol
• they also had the difficult task of trying to prevent alcohol from being smuggled in from abroad
• as a result, the agents faced a near-impossible task as alcohol was smuggled in by sea or over the border from Mexico in the south or from Canada in the north

Question 5

what was the impact of Prohibition on society?

Answer 5

• Prohibition never worked because people still wanted to drink
• they were prepared to break a law they never wanted - and criminal gangs were too willing to get the alcohol for them

Question 6

what were ‘speakeasies’?

Answer 6

• gangs ran illegal bars called speakeasies, which sold bootleg alcohol smuggled in from abroad by bootleggers.
• they also sold moonshine - a homemade spirit that was sometimes so strong it caused serious illness
• deaths from alcohol poisoning went up from 98 in 1920 to nearly 800 in 1926
• speakeasies were hidden away in cellars or private hotel rooms and drinkers had to give passwords or knock on the door in code to gain entry

Question 7

how did Prohibition impact organised crime?

Answer 7

• a few years after the introduction of Prohibition, many criminal gangs were making millions from bootlegging and speakeasies
• they made so much money that they could often bribe or intimidate police, lawyers and judges to cooperate with them and not prosecute them
• they also made money through fixing horse and dog racing, running brothels and racketeering, which was when businessmen and shopkeepers paid money to stop them from smashing up their premises

Question 8

why did Prohibition end?

Answer 8

• by 1933, many realised that the Prohibition experiment had failed. The attempt to make America a less violent, more honest and moral country had resulted in the rise of gangsters, organised crime and police corruption
• it was argued that if alcohol was legalised again then lots of legal jobs would be created in the brewing industry. the government could also tax alcohol itself- which would mean the government would make money rather than gangsters
  -in the 1932 presidential election campaign, one of the candidates Franklin D Roosevelt opposed prohibition which secured him many votes. Roosevelt went on to win the election, and in early 1933 one of the first things he did was to repeal Prohibition. Americans could legally drink again

Question 9

who was Al Capone?

Answer 9

• arguably the most infamous gangster of all time
• at the height of his power, he made $2 million a week through illegal gambling dens, brothels, bootlegging and racketeering

Question 10

what was Al Capone excluded from school for?

Answer 10

• hitting a female teacher

Question 11

when did Al leave New York? Where did he move to?

Answer 11

• 1919
• he moved to Chicago, America’s second-largest city

Question 12

who offered Al Capone a job in Chicago?

Answer 12

• A gang boss called ‘Terrible’ Johnny Torrio had offered him a job
• Torrio and Al soon took over a few of the other gangs

Question 13

why was Chicago “perfect” for criminals?

Answer 13

• many policemen, judges and even the mayor took bribes to “look the other way”

Question 14

what did Torrio and Al make a fortune from?

Answer 14

• bootlegging
• racketeering
• fixing horse and dog races
• overseeing prostitution

Question 15

why was it impossible to convict Al?

Answer 15

• he had control of the police and no witnesses ever came forward
• this type of illegal activity is known as “organised crime”

Question 16

when did Torrio retire? why?

Answer 16

• 1925
• he kept being shot

Question 17

how old was Al Capone when he took over the gang?

Answer 17

26

Question 18

how did Al Capone protect himself from rival gangs?

Answer 18

• he surrounded himself with bodyguards and drove a bulletproof car capable of 110 mph (the average car managed up to 40 mph)
• by 1927, Al employed 700 men
• 227 gangsters were killed in four years

Question 19

when was the St Valentines Day massacre?

Answer 19

14th February 1929

Question 20

what was the St Valentines Day massacre?

Answer 20

• Capone attempted to get rid of his biggest rival - ‘Bugs’ Moran - and his North Side Gang
• dressed as policemen, two of Al’s hitmen shot dead seven members of the gang in the St. Valentines day massacre
• Moran survived but soon retired

Question 21

what did the government decide to do with Al Capone by 1930?

Answer 21

• by 1930, FBI agents had vowed to jail Capone
• he was declared Public Enemy Number One
• no witnesses of Al’s crimes could be found

Question 22

what was Al arrested for?

Answer 22

• in 1931, Al was sentenced to 11 years in prison for not paying tax

Question 23

when was Al Capone released? Why?

Answer 23

• in 1939, he was released, suffering from a brain disease
• Al never went back to his gangster lifestyle and retired to Florida
• he was so ill he spent some of his final days fishing in the swimming pool

Question 24

when did Al Capone die?

Answer 24

• he died on 25 January 1947 from a heart attack

Question 25

how many people emigrated to America between 1850 and 1914?

Answer 25

• 40 million people
• this equated to around 10% of the population of Europe

Question 26

how was land a factor which attracted people to America?

Answer 26

• America is a vast country (40 times the size of the UK) with millions of acres of cheap, fertile farmland.
• it is also rich in natural resources such as coal, iron, cotton, oil and timber

Question 27

how were opportunities a factor which attracted people to America?

Answer 27

• by the early years of the 20th century, America was beginning to lead the world in steel, coal and textile production, overtaking Britain.
• There were plenty of jobs - and lots of opportunities to set up new businesses

Question 28

how were pay and conditions a factor which attracted people to America?

Answer 28

• in the 1920s, the US government announced hat American workers were earning, on average, nearly twice as much workers in any other country
• it said that the standard of living in the USA was the highest it had ever been in the country’s history

Question 29

how was the “American dream” a factor which attracted people to America?

Answer 29

• America prides itself on the idea that everyone has the right to achieve success and prosperity - an idea known as the “American Dream”
• the Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal” with the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
• these ideas were particularly attractive to immigrants, who believed they would be free to live their own lives, with freedom of speech and religion

Question 30

how was lack of space a factor which pushed people away from their homeland to seek a new life abroad?

Answer 30

• many European towns and cities were overcrowded
• land was in short supply and generally more expensive than in the USA

Question 31

how was lack of opportunity a factor which pushed people away from their homeland to seek a new life abroad?

Answer 31

• in the late 1800s and early 1900s, much of Europe was still divided into a strict class system
• the wealthier upper classes tended to own the best land and the major businesses, and it was very difficult for people from the lower, working classes to improve their lives

Question 32

how was poverty a factor which pushed people away from their homeland to seek a new life abroad?

Answer 32

• in the early 1900s, the vast majority of Europe’s citizens lived in poverty, including terrible housing, poor health, bad diet and an endless struggle just to feed themselves

Question 33

How did persecution push people away from their homeland to seek a new life abroad?

Answer 33

• various groups were persecuted for their religious and political beliefs in some European countries
• in Russia, for example, restrictions were placed on the number of Jews allowed in schools, and in some cities, Jews were expelled altogether; organised attacks against Jews were common too.

Question 34

what was the impact of ‘new’ immigrants living in America?

Answer 34

• in some cities, the immigrants were not welcomed with open arms
• they were often resented by the ‘old’ immigrants because they were usually poor, couldn’t speak English well and had unfamiliar traditions and religious practices
• the first world war had added to the suspicions many Americans had of ‘foreigners’; a revolution in Russia in 1917, when ordinary Russians had risen up and taken over land, banks and businesses, had only heightened the fear that Russian immigrants in the USA might try something similar in their new homeland

Question 35

what was the immigrant experience in America?

Answer 35

• most saw America as a ‘land of opportunity’ however life in America was not what many expected
• working and living conditions were generally very poor and they suffered considerable hardship
• many immigrants were poorly educated and were willing to work in any kind of job for very low wages
• as a result of this, they endured more and more prejudice because there was a feeling that the immigrants were out to ‘steal’ jobs

Question 36

what were the new laws the government began introducing to limit the number of new arrivals?

Answer 36

• a 1917 law banned entry to the USA to any immigrant over the age of 16 who was unable to read a sentence of 40 words -> many immigrants, especially those from Eastern Europe, had received no education and were unable to read
• the 1921 Immigration Quota Law allowed only 350,000 immigrants to enter America each year. This was cut to 150,000 by the 1924 National Origins Act

Question 37

why were African Americans lynched?

Answer 37

• over 100 African-Americans were lynched in 1897, 84 in 1903 and 61 in 1921
• many of the victims were probably innocent of any crime, but justice wasn’t really a motivating factor
• it was meant to remind African-Americans that white Americans were firmly in control - and they intended to keep it that way

Question 38

why were the Jim Crow laws created?

Answer 38

• slavery was abolished in the US in 1865, but by this time there were more black people than white in the South
• so the white politicians, often driven by lingering racial prejudice and fear of the power of the large African-American separate or segregated them from white Americans

Question 39

what were the Jim Crow laws?

Answer 39

• the laws covered all aspects of life: African-Americans were stopped from using the same restaurants, hotels, swimming pools, libraries, taxis and even cemeteries as white people
• The American Red Cross even kept African-American blood donations separate in its blood banks.
• ways were found to stop them from voting, like making them pass a difficult literacy test or firing them to pay high taxes before they voted
• African-Americans were segregated in the military so they could not fight alongside white Americans and some states banned mixed-race marriages
• African-Americans could not expect justice from the legal system

Question 40

how many African-Americans went to northern states from southern states?

Answer 40

2 million out of 12 million

Question 41

why did African-Americans head to Northern states?

Answer 41

• there were more jobs in the new industries in the Northern states and although pay was still low, t was better than in the south

Question 42

how were conditions in the Northern states for African-Americans?

Answer 42

• African-Americans were usually the last to be given jobs and the first to be fired
• they occupied the worst housing in the poorest areas of the cities
• some factories only employed white workers or paid their black workers the lowest wages
• there were occasional race riots too - in 1919, e.g. a major race riot was sparked in the Northern city of Chicago when an African-American youth accidentally entered a “whites only” beach

Question 43

how did some African-Americans flourish in the Northern States?

Answer 43

• talented black poets, writers, artists and musicians collected in the neighbourhood of Harlem, New York and made it a centre for creativity, black culture and black pride
• white customers were attracted to the district by the excitement and liveliness of the new nightclubs and jazz bars

Question 44

what was the NAACP?

Answer 44

• in 1910, WEB Du Bois - the great-grandson of African slaves - set up the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• the organisation worked hard to improve the rights of African-Americans, such as campaigning for the right to vote, but the politicians of the 1920s failed to introduce any of its suggestions
• the NAACP still exists today and has attracted support from world-famous pop stars, film stars and sportspeople

Question 45

which film prompted the revival of the KKK in 1915? what attitudes did it provoke?

Answer 45

• “the Birth of a Nation,” told the story of a group of klansman saving white families from gangs of violent black criminals
• the film glorified the Klan as an organisation intent on protecting decent, law-abiding citizens

Question 46

what did the Klan claim was their aim?

Answer 46

• they regarded their organisation as a defence against what they saw as a decline in moral standards

Question 47

who did the Klan dislike?

Answer 47

• African Americans, Jews, Catholics, immigrant workers

Question 48

how many members did the KKK have by 1925?

Answer 48

5 million

Question 49

why did people join the KKK?

Answer 49

• many members were poor white people, mainly from Southern + Western states who lived in smaller rural towns
• many had not seen the sort of prosperity that some of the people in the wealthier, Northern states had seen
• they looked for someone to blame for this

Question 50

how did they practise their “beliefs” and how did they intimidate people?

Answer 50

• their methods of violence and intimidation included whipping, branding with acid, kidnapping, castration + lynching
• they stripped some of their victims and put burning hot tar and feathers on their bodies

Question 51

how did the Klan operate?

Answer 51

• led by a dentist from Texas called Hiram Wesley Evans
• Evans or the “Imperial Wizard” as he was known - controlled local units or dens of Klansmen all over America

Question 52

what caused the Klu Klux Klan’s decline in the 1920s?

Answer 52

• In 1925, a popular local Klan leader named David Stephenson was convicted of the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder of a young woman
• at his trial, he exposed many of the secrets of the KKK
• he was sentenced to life imprisonment and, within a year, KKK membership had fell from 5 million to 300,000

Question 53

who were the new wave of immigrants in the 1880s?

Answer 53

central + Eastern Europe, Japan + China

Question 54

what criticism/ fears did Americans have about these immigrants?

Answer 54

• their culture and traditions were very different from the previous immigrants. As a result, the changing character of the new wave of immigrants was seen by many as a threat to the older American way of life
• communists in Russia were committed to the improvement of workers’ rights and working conditions and a number of strikes were organised by workers’ trade unions. In a country so dedicated to business and enterprise as America, the idea of workers refusing to work was considered very “un-American” by many
• Americans feared something like that would happen in America

Question 55

what was set up in 1919? how many Russians were in America at the time and how did this cause concern?

Answer 55

• An American Communist Party was set up and there was a fear that its members might try to start a communist revolution similar to the Russian one
• America had let nearly 1.5 million Russians in the past few years

Question 56

who were anarchists and why were they feared?

Answer 56

• anarchists believe that countries should not be ruled by organised governments with set laws and rules, but by a system where everyone rules themselves through voluntary cooperation
• many felt they had good reason to fear anarchists - in 1901, an anarchist called Leon Franz Czolgosz shot dead US President William McKinley

Question 57

who was and what happened to Alexander Mitchell Palmer?

Answer 57

• Alexander Mitchell Palmer, the man in charge of America’s law and police, was the target of a terrorist attack.
• In July 1919, a bomb ripped out the front of his house, and found next to the limbs of the suicide bomber was a newspaper called Plain Words - a communist publication

Question 58

what did Alexander Mitchell Palmer vow to do?

Answer 58

• after the attack on his home, Alexander Mitchell Palmer vowed to get rid of America’s communists - or “Reds”

Question 59

What were the “Palmer Raids”?

Answer 59

• around 6000 suspected communists were arrested and put in prison across 33 cities
• the police were looking for evidence of an attempt by communists to take over the government - but they found only three pistols and no explosives
• Palmer announced that there were plans by communists to launch terror attacks - but the attacks never came

Question 60

what impact did the Red Scare have on trade union membership?

Answer 60

• in the 1920s, there was a trade union membership decline as it fell from 6 million in 1920 to 3.6 million in 1923

Question 61

who were Sacco and Vanzetti?

Answer 61

• two Italian-born immigrants were accused of
  stealing $15000 from a shoe factory and shooting two of the staff in April 1920

Question 62

what evidence was there against Sacco and Vanzetti?

Answer 62

• 61 eyewitnesses identified them as the killers
• both men were carrying loaded guns when arrested. The bullets were the same size as those that killed the two men
• both men “acted guilty” when arrested and told some lies to the police
• Vanzetti had a previous conviction of armed robbery in December 1919

Question 63

what was the evidence for the defence of Sacco and Vanzetti?

Answer 63

• 107 people said that Sacco and Vanzetti were elsewhere on the night of the robbery/murders
• witnesses nearly all disagreed over what the two men were wearing that night
• several other men confessed to the murders
• it is no crime in America to carry a loaded gun. Sacco and Vanzetti said they did because they were worried about being attacked for their political beliefs

Question 64

who was the Judge for the Sacco and Vanzetti case and what did he say about the trial?

Answer 64

• the judge, Webster Thayer, said that Vanzetti “may not have actually committed the crime but he is morally to blame because he is our enemy”.
• he described them as “dagos”, “wops” and those “anarchist bastards”

Question 65

what was the aftermath of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial?

Answer 65

• the US embassy in Paris was bombed, and in one of the main coal-producing areas of Colorado miners went on strike in support of Sacco and Vanzetti
• protestors argued that the trial was unfair and the two men were found guilty as much for their race and their extreme ideas as for their actions
• however, the two men were executed by an electric chair on 23rd August 1927. In 1977, 50 years after their execution, the Governer of Massachusetts granted Sacco and Vanzetti a formal pardon and accepted that an unfair trial had taken place