History of the United States II / Unit 9 USH2 1217 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Guilt and Fairness
The idea
Two questions about Sacco and Vanzetti are still argued, and they are separate. The first is whether they committed the crime. The second is whether their trial was fair. The anchor reports appeals on the ballistics evidence and on testimony that witnesses later recanted, and the Yawp says fear of foreign radicals led to their executions. They were Italian immigrants and anarchists, arrested in the year of the Palmer raids, and approximately seven years passed between conviction and death.
In practice
A ballistics report and a recanted statement, both argued on appeal.
Where people slip
The course states what was argued and does not decide it. Keep the two questions apart: a trial can be unfair to guilty men, and fair to innocent ones. The case belongs in this unit because of what it shows about fear of radicals and immigrants in the same years as the new quotas.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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