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Essay: How Americans Reacted to the Legacy of the Great War

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  • Published: 1 April 2019*
  • Last Modified: 23 July 2024
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  • Words: 1,468 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 6 (approx)

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Paste your essay in heThe firestorm of the Great War published an American society rife with war and opposing values. Americans reacted to the legacy of the warfare with new political doctrines, contentious views of religion, and rising social and creative trends. Heightened tensions had been verified by means of how Americans reacted to the legacy of the Great War. Debate over religion, morality, politics, economics, and artwork broke alongside present day and common lines. The roaring 20s manifested these differences in courtrooms, countrywide politics, grass roots campaigns, and in the rising transportation and media revolutions. American faith grew to become a major front in the 1920s’ way of life wars. Mainstream Protestantism, Fundamentalism, Catholicism, and Judaism had been prominent and controversial. While ordinary Protestants retained manipulate of America’s commanding heights, the inflow of fundamentalism among “old stock” Americans and the importation of Catholicism and Judaism with “new immigrants” created a risky mix. two New York’s Alfred Smith was unable to win the presidency in 1928 generally due to the fact of his Irish Catholic faith.  Preachers such as Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple MacPherson attracted countrywide audiences through their sophisticated use of new media outlets such as the radio. Ironically, modernism fashioned the spiritual resurgence in the 1920s.  MacPherson’s revivals were acknowledged for having “sex appeal” and being a shape of “supernatural whoopee.” (Doc I) Even the fundamentalist movement was once formed with the aid of the new trends in the United States. The presidencies of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover maintained the exercise of common Protestantism in the White House, however that did not forestall national upheaval over the manufacturer of religion propagated by way of Sunday and MacPherson. The introduction of the concept of evolution into the high college curriculum awakened the napping massive of fundamentalist Christianity and created tension over the separation of church and state.  Evolution versus creationism grew to become a metaphor for the a great deal large religious debate in the United States. The Scopes Monkey trial confirmed the spiritual anxiety of the era. Creationism wasdefended through the former populist presidential candidate and former secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan. two Clarence Darrow defended the Science teacher, John T. Scopes. Bryan and Darrow battled for weeks over their non secular interpretations and beliefs.  Modernists challenged the thinking that “everything in the bible need to be actually interpreted.” Whereas fundamentalists believed the likes of Darrow were voicing a “slur to the bible.” (Doc C). Their debate represented a countrywide anxiety over the variety of non secular beliefs existing in the United States via the 1920s. Religion also served as a pseudonym to discuss America’s new ethnic diversity. In 1800 the United States was once made up of African slaves, Native Americans, and a smattering of protestant northwestern Europeans.  In 1921 Warren G. Harding presided over a kingdom of jap European Jews, Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics, African American Baptists, and White Anglo Saxon Protestants. two The teeming hundreds populated America’s cities, but the governors’ mansions and Congressional seats had been nonetheless firmly underneath the manage of white Anglo Saxon males. Congress exceeded three immigration laws in 1921, 1924, and 1927 to cut off immigration from undesirable regions. two The immigrants Sacco & Vanzetti reinforced this fear of immigrants.  “100% Americans” questioned the loyalty of new immigrants to the country. Catholics have been feared to obey the Pope, as a substitute of the president. Jews have been believed to carry with them the radical ideologies their Russian homeland, as exemplified in the case of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. White fears had been not assuaged through political domination.  The KKK’s presence served to intimidate blacks, Jews, and Catholics who strove for political representation, or even just urban integration. two Lynchings occurred in nearly every state in the 1920s, not simply in the regular south. two The Palmer Raids of 1919 & 1920 set the standard as the zenith of xenophobic hysteria. Groups such as the KKK and the one hundred percent Americanism movement manifested outside of the government’s mandate, demonstrating the grass roots tension in the country. The Klan unabashedly believed they represented the “old stock” Americans who had “given the world nearly the complete of current civilization.” (Doc D). two Nostalgia like the Klan’s represented a craving for the historical America. The political domination of the Anglo Whites does now not indicate that minority organizations acquiesced to the pressures of the “old” America.  African American leaders and artists represented the instant legacy of the Great Migration. Black nationalists like Marcus Garvey represented a “new negro” pushing towards subjugation. two Garvey’s “black nationalism” departed from Booker T. Washington’s traditional method to integration and even moved a step similarly than W.E.B. DuBois’ belief in full integration. Harlem Renaissance writers created a new fashion for blacks, as well as all Americans that broke from the traditional artistic patterns. Langston Hughes redefined his color through declaring “black is beautiful.” Claude McKay’s poetry embodied Garvey’s black nationalist rhetoric in works like “If WeMust Die.” Perhaps the most instantaneous dissemination of the new black culture into ancient America was in music.  Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Bessie Smith defined the Jazz generation with their pure shape American music. two This new artwork shape sounded like the “eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro Soul, the tom-tom of revolt.” (Doc E).  Jazz mixed the ancient classical instrumentation and the new rhythms delivered to the north via the Great Migration. African Americans had been not the solely new artists breaking ground. The Lost Generation of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Stein criticized America’s “return to normalcy” and proven their disgust through spending most of the decade in Europe.  Societal tensions manifested in all art mediums. Artists realized America’s veneration of the new philosophy of science, industry, and capitalism. Stella’s “Bridge” (Doc B) encapsulates the triumph of modernism over traditionalism with glowing cities and cathedrals of town light. New technology additionally careworn the tension between historic and new America. The automobile’s proliferation allowed many Americans to escape the “new problems” of the cities.  At the equal time, motors allowed unsupervised dating and examined the historical morals and standards. Automobiles additionally facilitated the bootlegging industry. The 18th Amendment used to be a triumph of “old” America in opposition to the issues of “new” America.  New immigrants ought to optimistically be civilized besides their “rum” and quickly after be cured of their “romanism” as well. two The temperance experiment failed largely due to “new” motors and the automobile/temperance fighting is a clear demonstration of manifested tensions between contemporary and common America. Other new applied sciences such as the radio and cellphone additionally created tension in America. Mass verbal exchange carried ideas, morals, and struggle to isolated parts of the nation.  Part of the Scopes Monkey trial’s charm used to be its countrywide radio broadcast of Darrow and Bryan’s arguments. two New ideas like evolution have been carried on the airwaves. Film and radio stars like Clara Bow and Rudolf Valentino grew to become national celebrities for their charisma and appeal. two These stars represented a new cult.  People started to ignore the church and praise materialism and economic success. two Americans’ tastes constant upon what “the large country wide advertisers” advised humans about “individuality.” ( Doc A) In certain cases scientific growth appeared to represent American traditionalism. Charles Lindbergh’s achievements hailed as comparison to that of Jesus “nineteen hundred years ago.” (Doc F).  Capitalist and entrepreneur Henry Ford noticed himself as a defender of regular America. two Ford supported prohibition and vehemently adversarial unions at Ford Motor Company.  To Ford, unions and alcohol obviously represented the issues of the “new America.” Henry Ford and the Model T served as duplicitous symbols of ancient and new conflicts. two Even Sunday school instructors represented the aforementioned commingling of traditionalism and modernismWhen referred to as to educate the adolescence about the “well tested information of science” (Doc G) in regard to smoking. It is doubtful that William Jennings Bryan would name for Sunday schools to push new scientific thoughts upon the nation’s children. Throughout the post World War I technology Americans had been divided over the nation’s path. two For modernists, the u . s . was stuck in a quagmire of dogma and intolerance.  Traditionalists believed the country was once hastily abandoning its founding racial, political, and non secular doctrines. two Americans could now not pass that the united states was once changing. Divorce charges rose, marriage prices declined (Doc H), African Americans lived in the north and south, and the white, Anglo Saxon manipulate over the u . s . a . regarded threatened. two Immigration, progressivism, and the Great War delivered new values and challenged the old, leaving the country in a political and cultural battle over its identity. re…

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