Freedom covers many aspects of life : human rights, religious freedom, economic freedom, freedom of expression and political freedom. In America in the 1920's there was an illusion of freedom - but some people were more free than others and this depended on race, social class and political belief.

There was a big divide between rich and poor and this was further exagerrated by the divide between the urban and rural populations.

The smaller farmers suffered from low income. The government did nothing to help, as it was Republican and believed in not interfering with American peoples lives. This ties in with the idea of economic freedom - the rural poor were not free because they could not afford to buy what they wanted. They barely had the money to survive, let alone the opportunity to earn the extra money to buy the things that they needed.

The mining story was much the same. As the demand for coal dropped, the wages were lowered and the hours for miners were longer. A non-union policy was set up in many mines, which prevented any worker from joining a trade union. This meant that they could pay lower wages and charge less for coal and get a bigger percentage of th

Indian children were made to go to boarding school, and while they were there they were 'reeducated'. All their traditional values were outlawed, and they were put on reservations and made to convert to Christianity.

But the trail did illustrate the reluctance of American society to accept Darwinism - or a different interpretation of the Bible - and therefore underlined a reluctance to accept freedom of thought.

The real guilty party here, were the WASPs. Anything that threatened WASP supremacy - even the slightest thing - would be instantly crushed, even if it meant ignoring the bill of rights, or the policies of the country. The 'Red Scare' was devised by the capitalist WASPs, to protect their interests and money, and it impinged on the freedom of many sections of American society.

The justice system was also very biased. If someone even suspected that a black man had committed a crime, he would be put to trial (if he was lucky) and most likely hanged. Sometimes if, he was sent to prison, or awaiting trial, lynch mobs would take them away, beat them and kill them.

The Ku Klux Klan were an active, and very vicious organisation ,a hater of all that was not White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant. They were mostly behind the lynchings, and killed many blacks.

Religious beliefs were a cornerstone of American life. Christianity was the only religion, and any one not found practicing it would be out cast. Native Americans were looked down on the most. Even though in 1926, Indians were declared full citizens of the USA, white authorities tried to destroy their traditional way of life and culture.

Sacco and Vanzetti were men who were executed on political grounds. The fact that they were both anarchists and immigrants, were the reasons for their arrest and execution. The evidence was inconclusive (and some say fixed), the defen

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sacco Vanzetti, , Anglo-Saxon Protestant, Jim Crow, John Scopes, Native Americans, United America, Deep South, Klux Klan, american society, black people, political freedom, trade union, economic freedom, freedom america, sacco vanzetti, lower wages,
Approximate Word count = 1244
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)