The Age of Urban America 1865 1896 Chapter
The Age of “Urban America” 1865 -1896 Chapter 7
• What do you think an immigrates life was like in the U. S. at end of 18 th century and during the 19 th century? • What was the challenges of urbanization?
Why It Matters • New immigrants provided cheap labor, which allowed for industrial growth. • Immigrants’ also affected urban politics and labor unions. • Would this be a problem? Why?
• After the Civil War millions of immigrants from Europe and Asia settled in the United States. • By the 1890 s most European states made it easy to move to America. • By the 1890 s eastern and southern Europeans made up more than half of all immigrants. • Of the 14 million immigrants who arrived between 1860 and 1900 many were European Jews. • America offered immigrants employment few immigration restrictions, avoidance of military service, religious freedom, and the chance to move up the social ladder.
• At the same time moving to the United States offered a chance to break away from Europe’s class system and move to a democratic nation where they had a chance to move up the social ladder. • Most immigrants took the difficult trip to America in steerage the least expensive accommodations on a steamship. • Edward Steiner an Iowa clergyman who posed as an immigrant in order to write a book on immigration described the miserable quarters.
• The 14 -day trip usually ended at Ellis Island a small island in New York Harbor. • It served as a processing center for most immigrants arriving on the East coast after 1892.
• Between 1892 and 1954, approximately 12 million people who entered the U. S. through the port of New York were legally and medically inspected at Ellis Island. • However some faced the possibility of being separated from their family and possibly sent back to Europe due to various health problems.
• Whenever suspicion of a health problem the alien was placed in a cage and marked with the reason for that health problem. • Like “H”- heart problem “K”- hernia “Sc”scalp problem “X”- mental disability.
Pro or Anti Immigration • The history of immigration to the United States has been both celebrated and criticized. • What would be some the pros and cons?
• Most immigrants that arrived in the U. S. settled in cities. • They lived in neighborhoods that were separated into ethnic groups. • Here they duplicated many of the comforts of their homelands, including language and religion. • Immigrants who learned English adapted to American culture had marketable skills or money or if they settled among members of their own ethnic group tended to adjust well to living in the United States.
• Severe unemployment poverty, and famine in China the discovery of gold in California the Taiping Rebellion in China, and the demand for railroad workers in the United States led to an increase in Chinese immigration to the United States in the mid-1800 s. • Western cities, Chinese immigrants worked as laborer, servant, skill tradesmen and merchants. Some opened their own laundries.
• Between 1900 and 1919, Japanese immigration to the United States drastically increased as Japan began to build an industrial economy and an empire. • In 1910 a barracks was opened on Angel Island in California. • Most of the Asian immigrants were young males in their 20 s and teens who waited sometimes for months for the results of immigration hearings.
• The increase in immigration led to what in the United States? • Nativism- What is this? • An extreme dislike foreigners by native-born people and the desire to limit immigration. s
• Earlier in the 1840 s and 1850 s nativism was directed toward the Irish. • In the early 1900 s it was the Asian, Jews and eastern Europeans that were the focus of nativism.
• The increase in immigration led to the forming of two anti-immigrant groups. • The American Protective Association had 500, 000 members by 1887. • The founder of the American Protective Association was Henry Bowers who disliked Catholics and foreigners.
• In 1870 s Denis Kearny and Irish immigrants organized the Workingman's Party of California. • This group wanted to stop the Chinese immigration. • Violence would be the result of this organization.
• In 1882 Congress would pass the Chinese Exclusion Act – what did this act do? • Barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented the Chinese already in the United States from becoming citizens. • This act was renewed by Congress in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. The act would be repealed in 1943.
First Subway • In 1897 the first subway was 6 ½ miles long and built in Boston. • Speed of first subway was about 18 mph. 2
Americans Migrate to the Cities • The urban population of the United States grew from about 10 million in 1870 to over 30 million by 1900. • Immigrants remained in the cities where they worked long hours for little pay. • Still most immigrants felt their standard of living had improved in the United States.
• Farmers began to moving to cities because of better paying jobs electricity running water, plumbing and entertainment • Many of Americans moved to the cities in the late 1800 s for more jobs and better paying jobs.
• Steel also changed the way bridges were built. • New technology enabled engineers to suspended bridges from steel towers using cables also made of steel. • Using this technique John A. Roebling a German American engineer designed New York’s Brooklyn Bridge- the largest suspension bridge in the world at the time it was completed in 1883.
The New Urban Environment • Housing and transportation needs changed due to the increase in the amount of people living in cities. • As the price of land increased building skyscrapers which gave incentives to grow upward instead of outward. . • Skyscrapers tall steel frame buildings were constructed for this reason. • No one contributed more to the designing of skyscrapers than Louis Sullivan.
• Louis Sullivan has been called the "father of skyscrapers“ and "father of modernism". • Louis Sullivan was the architecture/builder of Chicago’s (Wainwright Building) Home Insurance Building the first skyscraper built in 1855.
• In 1890 s various kinds of mass transit developed to move large numbers of people around cities quickly. • Beginning with the sophisticated electric trolley cars, cable cars, and elevated railroads, subway systems engineers created ways for the people in late 1800 s get to and from work.
Class separation • Definite boundaries could be seen between where the wealthy, middle class and working class people lived. • Wealthy families lived in the heart of the city where they constructed elaborate homes. • The middle class which included doctors, lawyers engineers, and teachers, tended to live away from the city. • The majority of urban dwellers were part of the working class who lived in city tenements or dark and crowded multi-family apartments.
• The middle class grew as a result of the industrialization in the late 1800 s. • The growth of cities resulted in an increase in crime, fire, disease, and pollution. • From 1880 -1900 there was a large increase in the crime and violence. • Native born Americans blamed immigrants for the increase in crime. • Alcohol was also blamed as contributing to crime in the late 1800 s. • Contaminated drinking water from improper sewage disposal resulted in epidemics of typhoid fever and cholera.
7 Urban Politics • A new political system was needed to cope with the new urban problems. • The political machine an informal political group designed to gain and keep power provided essentials to city dwellers (jobs, housing, food, heat, and police protection) in exchange for votes.
• The party bosses ran the political machines. • George Plunkitt an Irish immigrant was one of New York’s City’s most powerful party bosses. • The party bosses had tight control of the city’s money. • Many of the politicians became wealthy due to fraud or graft- getting money through dishonest or questionable means.
• The most famous New York Democratic political machine was Tammany Hall. • The Tammany Society was founded in New York City in 1789 by William Mooney, a Revolutionary War veteran. • The Society, sometimes called the Columbian Order, was originally a patriotic and charitable organization.
• During the 1860 s and 1870 s Tammany Hall’s boss was William M. “Boss” Tweed. • There is little question that the Tweed Ring were outright thieves and that Tammany Hall did have a series of reoccurring scandals. An estimated 75 to 200 million dollars were swindled from the City between 1865 and 1871. • He was arrest for corruption and sent to prison in 1874.
• Thomas and James Pendergast were party bosses in Kansas City. • They led state and city politics from 1890 s-1930 s. • Although corrupt, political machines did supply important services and help assimilate the ever-expanding population of city dwellers. • The political machines also helped city dwellers in the late 1800 s in return for immigrant votes and to maintain political power.
3 A Changing Culture • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was the first book that Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote using memories of his own childhood. • In 1873 Mark Twain and Charles Warner co-wrote the novel, The Gilded Age.
• The term “gilded” refers to something being gold on the outside while the inside is made of cheaper material. • The authors tried to point out that although this was a time of growth, beneath the surface were corruption, poverty, and a huge difference rich and poor.
• Industrialization and urbanization caused Americans to look at society in a different way. • This gave way to new values, art, and forms of entertainment. • A strong belief during the Gilded Age was the idea of individualism. • This is the belief that regardless of your background you could still rise in society.
• Horatio Alger a minister from Massachusetts, left clergy an moved to New York where he wrote over 100 novels about rags to riches stories. • Hebert Spencer an English philosopher, first proposed the idea of Social Darwinism. • Spencer took Charles Darwin’s theory that a species that cannot adapt to the environment will eventually die out- Spencer felt that human society evolved through the competition.
• Spencer concluded that society progressed and became better because only the fittest people survived. • Industrial leaders agreed with Social Darwinism. • Social Darwinism paralleled laissez-faire an economic doctrine that was opposed to government interference with business. • Many devout Christians and some leading scientist opposed the idea of Darwin’s conclusions about the origin of new species.
• They rejected theory of evolution because it went against the Bible’s account of creation. • Andrew Carnegie a wealthy business leader, believed in Social Darwinism and laissez –faire.
• However he felt those who profited from society should give something back so he softened Social Darwinism with his Gospel of Wealth. • This philosophy stated that wealthy Americans were responsible and should engage in philanthropy using great fortunes to further social progress.
Realism • A new movement in art, literature, called realism portrayed people in realistic situations instead of idealizing them as the romantic artists had done. • Thomas Eakins a painter from Philadelphia observed and painted day to day living in a realistic fashion. • He used realistic detail and precise lighting.
• Writer and literary critic William Dean Howells wrote realistically about American life. • He also recognized talent in several writers of this time including Mark Twain who wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884. • Twain is thought to have written the first true American novel. • Henry James an English writer portrayed the lives of the upper class in his 1881 novel Portrait of a Lady.
Popular Culture • Popular culture changed in the late 1800 s. • People had more money to spend on entertainment and recreation. • Work became separate from home. • People looked to have fun by “going out” to public entertainment.
• Edith Wharton won a Pulitzer Prize for the novel The Age of Innocence which portrayed the complicated lives of the upper-class in New York in the 1870 s.
• During the 1800 s the saloon acted like a community and political center for male workers. • It offered free toilets, water for horses, free newspapers, and free lunches.
• Coney Island in New York was an amusement park that attracted working class families and single adults. • It offered amusements such as water slides and railroad rides. s
• Watching sports became very popular in the late 1800 s. • Baseball began to appear in the United States in the early 1800 s. • In 1869 the first salaried team the Cincinnati Red Stockings was formed. • Moses Fleetwood Walker was one of the early African American baseball players.
Baseball Facts • The National League was organized in 1867 chiefly by Albert Spalding. • The American Association was formed right after the National League it would fold. The two would play the first postseason contest in 1883 which would be an ancestor of the World Series. • In 1901 the American League would be organized. • In 1903 the first modern World Series would be played between what two teams? • Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. • Who won? • Boston Red Sox.
Football • Football and basketball also became popular during this time period. • Football also became known for appalling level of violence on the field; 18 college students died of football –related injuries and a hundred injured in 1905. • This injuries caused President Teddy Roosevelt to call conference on the organization of the sport. • As a result of the deliberation an new intercollegiate association was formed in 1910. Called what? • National College Athletic Association the NCAA- it revised rules of the game to make in an effort to make it safer and more honest.
Walter Camp (1859 - 1925) • "Walter Camp was one of the giants of football in the United States. He stands first among them, for it was he who sired the game as it is played in the United States, the game that evolved from the rugby football of England. He played in the first Yale-Harvard game of rugby in 1876. From then on, his was the fertile, inventive mind and guiding leadership that brought about the evolution of the American style of football. "
• Basketball was invented in 1891 by Who? • James Naismith.
• In the early 1880 s vaudeville became popular. • It was adapted from the French theater and combined animal acts, acrobats, gymnasts and dancers in performance.
• During this time people began enjoying ragtime music. • The famous African American ragtime composer was Scott Joplin who became known as the King of the Ragtime.
Social Criticism • With changes in industrialization and urbanization debates among Americans over the major issue of how to handle society's problems arise. • In 1879 journalist Henry George wrote a best-selling book called Progress and Poverty. • It would raise the many questions about American society and challenged the ideas of Social Darwinism and laissezfaire economics. 4
• In 1883 Lester Frank Ward’s Dynamic Sociology argued that humans were unlike animals because they could think and plan ahead. • He concluded that it was cooperation and not competition that caused people to succeed. • He wanted government to become more involved in solving societal problems. • These ideas became known as Reform Darwinism.
• In 1888 Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward 2000 -1887 became a bestseller and helped shape thinking of American reformers in the late 1800 s. • The book tells the story of a perfect society in the year 2000.
Naturalism in Literature • Realist argued that people could control their own lives and make choices to improve their situation. • In a style of writing known as naturalism writers criticized industrial society. • They suggested that some people failed in life due to circumstances they could not control.
• Prominent naturalist writers included Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser. • All wrote stories of characters caught up in situations they could not control. • Jack London’s tales of Alaskan wilderness demonstrated the extreme power that the natural environment can have over civilization.
Helping the Poor • Reformers began to organize to help the poor. • Organizations such as the Social Gospel movement, Salvation Army, YMCA, women's’ clubs, settlement houses and temperance movements formed to help the needy.
• Minister Washington Gladden was an early supporter of the Social Gospel movement. • He wanted to apply “Christian Law” to social problems. • From 1870 to 1920 members of the Social Gospel group worked to better conditions in cities through charity and justice.
• Baptist minister Walter Rauschenbusch later led the movement. He believed that competition was the cause of many social problems. • This led to many churches taking on community functions to improve society by offering gyms, social programs, and daycare.
• In 1878 the Salvation Army offered aid and religious counseling to urban poor. • The YMCA attempted to help industrial workers and urban poor through Bible studies, prayer meetings citizenship training and group activities. • They had facilities that offered libraries gyms pools and low-cost hotel rooms.
• Dwight L. Moody was an evangelical Christian and president of the Chicago YMCA. • He founded his own church today known as Moody Memorial Church. • By 1867 Moody was so popular that he brought his revival meetings to other cities. • He was against Social Groups and Social Darwinism. • He felt the way to help the poor was by redeeming their souls and not by providing them with services.
• The settlement house movement was promoted by reformers who felt it was their Christian duty to improve the conditions of the poor. • Jane Addams set up settlement houses in poor neighborhoods. • Addams opened Hull House in 1889 and inspired many others, . Including Lillian Wald’s Henry Street settlement house in New York City. • Medical care, recreation programs, and English classes were provided at settlement houses.
Public Education • In the late 1880 s the increase of industry resulted in a need for better trained workers. • As a result there was a need for more schools and colleges. • Americanization or becoming knowledgeable about American culture was key to the success of immigrant children.
• Due to the lack of educational opportunities for African Americans, Booker T Washington led the crusaded to form the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881. • The grammar school system in the city divided students into eight separate grades to help teach successful habits in the workplace.
• The number of colleges greatly increased in the late 1800 s. • This was partly a result of the Morrill Land Grant Act which gave federal land grants to states for the purposes of establishing agricultural and mechanical colleges. • College attendance increased as a result of these land grants. • The number of women colleges also increased. • Free libraries provided education to city dwellers. • Andrew Carnegie donated millions toward the construction of libraries.
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