Rural/Urban conflicts of the 1920s
Rural and Urban Conflict in the 1920s At the end of World War I, changes in society began to dominate daily lives. Conflict arose as an increasingly urban, secular society came into conflict with olderrural traditions. The rise of new ideas and the change into peacetime economy broughtproblems in both urban and rural environments. The two sections of the county had theirown sources of conflict, but many affected both. One source of conflict was fundamentalism, in which the millennial zeal of the19th century was combined with a less rational way of interpreting the Bible. TheFundamentals, a series of religious pamphlets, gave fundamentalism its name, andallowed it to gain popularity. Fundamentalism became institutionalized in 1919 and1920. The Darwin theory of evolution became more widely recognized and accepted inthe more liberal parts of Protestant churches. Higher criticism of the Bible, much ofwhich contradicted Darwin's theory, followed. With the growing popularity of
This shift forced factory owners to fireemployees, and eventually loose their companies. They crowded mainly in urban areas. When Darrow wasdenied the use of scientists to testify as expert witnesses, he called the prosecutor,Williams Jennings Bryan to the stand. Following World War I, the government failed to assist farmers in easing out ofwar time production of farm goods. Clarence Darrow was Scopes' attorney. Peace in Europe brought unwanted surplus and highdept payments to the American agrarian. One result of these restrictionswas to reduce the appeal of nativist organizations. In a more urban environment, factories suffered. This exampleof rural conflict became a nation-wide concern. Ghettos were segregatedcommunities of poor living conditions. In 1924, the Immigration Quota Law waspassed, limiting the number of immigrants to 150,000. It proposed that the government purchase extra farm goods to selloverseas. Darrow wanted the jury to find Scopesguilty so he could appeal to higher court and get the law changed. They wanted the Americanpopulation to be native-born white Protestants. Bryan was a highly religious fundamentalist.
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