Coming to Terms with the New Age 1820

Coming to Terms with the New Age 1820 s – 1850 s

Patterns of Immigration • Immigration was key to urban growth • Most immigrants came from Ireland Germany during this period (1820 s-50 s) • Most settled in Northern cities (the transportation and industrial revolutions would have been next to impossible without this surge of immigrant labor) • Most of the Irish and half of the Germans were Catholic, poor, didn’t speak English (or a “strange” dialect), which provoked a nativist backlash among Americans

The Irish • The first major immigrant wave to test American cities • The Potato Famine (1845 -49) forced the Irish to starve or emigrate • Due to their destitution, most stayed in the coastal cities and lived in horrible conditions in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston • New York was able to “absorb” the Irish, as Boston (the center of American Protestantism and intellectual thought) was overwhelmed by and resented these poor, Catholic, and illiterate peasants (Irish need not apply)

The Germans • Germans, like the Irish, were coming to America during the 18 th century • Reasons for emigration: potato blight and economic and political troubles • German settlement was relatively dispersed, and formed farming communities (“German Towns”) in most regions except NE cities and the South

The Chinese • Migrated to California in the early 19 th century due to the Gold Rush • By the mid 1860 s, the Chinese made up 90% of laborers building the Central Pacific Railroad • San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest ethnic enclave in America

Ethnic Neighborhoods • Irish and German immigrants created ethnic enclaves to maintain cultural traditions and institutions • The Irish built their own churches and sent their kids to Catholic schools, due to the discrimination they’d receive at public schools • Ethnic clustering allowed immigrants to hold onto aspects of their culture, but still assimilate to life in America

Ethnicity and Whiteness in Urban Pop Culture • In response to the pressures of the influx of immigrant labor, unskilled wage work replacing craftsmen/artisans, and the Panics of 1837 and 1857, working class “amusements” became rougher and rowdier • Taverns and theaters were sights of entertainment, brawls, gang fights, and other violence • Working-class and middle-class amusements split as more affluent families moved away and established their own neighborhoods and theaters • Minstrel shows (white actors in black face), the origin of the character Jim Crow, were popular among the working class • Turf wars, exaggerated clothing (sticking it to the status quo), debauchery, mixing and clashing of ethnicities/races all contributed to the “urban legends” of the 19 th century in neighborhoods like the Five Points and the Bowery in NYC

The Five Points, c. 1850 s

The Growth of Cities • The market revolution dramatically increased the size of cities, mostly the Northern seaports • 7% of pop. lived in cities in 1820 • 20% of pop. lived in cities in 1860 • Population of NYC went from 60, 000 to 1 million from 1800 -1860! • Instant cities sprung up along transportation networks like the Erie Canal • Chicago became the 8 th largest city in America by 1860 due to the railroad

Class Structure and Living Patterns in the Cities • The growth of immigration changed urban life by sharply contrasting social differences • From 1800 -1850, the gap between rich and poor grew rapidly as the benefits of the market revolution were unequally distributed: – Middle class (25%) – Poor (75%) – Rich (1 -3%)

Urban Issues • Early city life dealt with filthy living conditions, fire, crime, no sanitation or water treatment, and disease (cholera, yellow fever, and typhus) • NYC established its official police force in 1845 to deal with civic disorder • Anti-immigration (especially against the Catholic Irish) and discrimination of free African Americans were prevalent in the cities as urban riots targeted these poorest groups • Over half of the country’s free African American population lived in Northern cities where they encountered segregation in residency, education, discrimination on basic civil rights and employment • Economic opportunities for African American men deteriorated as immigrants (primarily the Irish) were hired at a lower cost to do the same jobs • Free African Americans engaged in antislavery activities, but were frequent targets of urban violence

The Labor Movement and Urban Politics • Worker associations became increasingly angry regarding their declining social and economic status • Workers’ associations became increasingly classconscious turning to fellow laborers for support • Initially, urban worker protest against changing conditions was the focus of party politics as both Democrats and Whigs tried to woo the votes of organized workers • Workers organized trade unions and formed city-wide General Trade Unions, which then organized the National Trades Union • The trade union movement was met with hostility and fell apart with the Panic of 1837

Political Machines • With the unprecedented growth of cities (mainly by immigration) the number of voters increased rapidly— the US was the only country that allowed property-less white men to vote • To serve this working-class white contingency, a new breed of politician emerged: The Boss, who ran a “machine” • The machines started in the neighborhoods, controlling and thus manipulating the immigrant and workingclass vote through extortion, bribery, and cronyism (basically, votes for favors) • Classic example: Tammany Hall of NYC

Religion, Reform, and Social Control • Driven by evangelical religion, middle class Americans responded to the ills of the market revolution by targeting areas of social reform • Charles G. Finney’s doctrine of “perfectionism” drove the spirit of reform by appealing to the goodness of people and the moralistic dogma of Christianity • Reform movements were both regional and national, usually emerging from local projects that focused on certain social problems • Reformers mixed political and social activities and tended to use the power of the state to promote their ends

Education and Women Teachers • Horace Mann led the public school movement that led to tax-supported schools • Since children were “innocents who needed gentle nurturing” it was only natural to encourage women to become teachers, the first real career opportunity for women in America

The Temperance Movement • Middle class reformers sought to change America’s drinking habits • Alcohol was seen as the cause to practically all of society’s problems • The Panic of 1837 prompted the working class to join the movement • By the 1840 s, the alcohol consumption in America had been cut in half

Moral Reform, Asylums, and Prisons • Reformers attacked prostitution by organizing charity for poor women and through tougher criminal penalties, but had little success • Dorothea Dix spearheaded the asylum movement, which led to the creation of state asylums that promoted the humane treatment for the insane • Prison reform was driven by the idea of correction and reform rather than incarceration • Orphanages, hospitals, refuge homes all sprung out of this movement

Utopianism • The region of New York most changed by the Erie Canal was a fertile ground for religious and reform movements, earning the name “the Burned-Over District” • Religious utopian groups like the Millerites and Shakers saw an apocalyptic end of history • Utopians practiced celibacy, “complex” marriages, and forms of socialism that were more or less met with skepticism by average Americans

The Mormons • Founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 • Close cooperation and hard work made the Mormons the most successful of this religious movement • Due to anger over the practice of polygamy, Smith was killed by an angry mob in Illinois • Their new leader Brigham Young led them away from persecution to the Utah Territory (The Great Salt Lake) in 1846

Abolition • The American Colonization Society founded in 1817 called for the gradual emancipation and the removal of free blacks to Africa • It was a very ineffective group that eventually founded a small country in Africa (Liberia) in the 1830 s • Free African Americans rejected colonization and founded abolitionist societies that demanded equal treatment, the end of slavery, and encouraged slave rebellions (David Walker, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World)

The Abolitionists • William Lloyd Garrison headed the best-known group of antislavery reformers, who denounced all compromises and called for the immediate emancipation of slaves based on religious and moral grounds (The Liberator) • The American Anti-Slavery Society drew on the style of religious revivalists as they tried to confront slaveholders and lead them to repentance • Using the press, abolitionists mailed millions of pieces of propaganda throughout the US, prompting the South to crackdown on this dissent • Even in the North, abolitionists were attacked, stoned, and sometimes killed by angry mobs

Abolition and Politics • Abolition quickly became a political issue • The gag rule passed in Congress from 1836 -44 prohibited the discussion of antislavery measures • The problem was unity: white v. black abolitionists; Whig v. Democrat; the formation of the Liberty Party in 1840

Women’s Rights • Sarah and Angelina Grimke left South Carolina and travelled north, denouncing slavery becoming the first female public speakers in American history • The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 argued for women’s rights (The Declaration of Sentiments) • Throughout American history, women have led, or have been active participants in all major reform movements with the hope that this participation would lead to social and civil equality