Unit 3: Birth of Modern America

Chapter 10Urban

America

I. Immigration

A. European Immigration

1. Old vs New Immigrants

a. During19th century, the sources of immigrants to the US changed

- “Old Immigrants” = North & Western Europeans

- “New immigrants” came from southern and eastern Europe

Europe 1900

New Immigrants into the US

U.S. Immigration Statistics: Origin (in percentages)

Decade TotalNorthern/W. Europe

East/Central/S. Europe

Canada andLatin America Asia

1861-1870 2,314,824       87.8       01.4       07.2        02.8

1871-1880 2,812,191       73.6       07.2       14.4        04.4

1881-1890 5,246,130       72.0       18.2       08.1        01.3

1891-1900 3,687,546       44.5       51.9       01.1        01.9

1901-1910 8,795,386       31.7       60.8       04.1        02.8

1911-1920 5,735,811       17.4       58.9       19.9        03.4

1921-1930 4,107,209       31.7       28.7       36.9        02.4

2. Push/Pull Migration Factors - US

Push Factors = factors that cause someone to leave

their native country

Pull Factors = factors that draw people into a

specific country

• Poverty (Farm) – (New ag techniques in these European regions removed the need for thousands of farm laborers)•Religious Persecution•Political Tyranny•Wars & compulsory military service•Lack of social mobility (hereditary status)•Repealed emigration laws (allowed to leave)

•Economic opportunity (plenty of work, plenty of land)•Freedom of religion/speech•Democratic political system•Social mobility !!!•Few immigration restrictions (needed workers thanks to industrialization!)•Higher standard of living

Push Pull

Those hateful bullies have gone too far. First they rode through town shouting terrible things about us. Next, they wrecked our synagogue. Now they break into our homes! The police do nothing to stop them. I'm afraid it is time to leave.--Nina, Russia, 1890

Push or

Pull?

Jewish men look at the damage to a building after Russians ransacked their village.

3. The Atlantic Voyage

a. difficult, long

b. most in steerage: most basic, cheapest accommodations on the ship

Typical ship

4. Ellis Island NY

a. Most European immigrants disembarked and were processed at Ellis Island

b. immigrants were subject to a medical exam; provided various documentation

c. Families could become separated

Renze Kampstra and family

Immigrants waiting for processing at Ellis Island

Usually, families would send their most willing son, or husband, to America to find work. The man, who would now be in New York, would then send for the rest of his family

5. The Immigrant Experience

a. most settled in cities

- cheapest housing (tenements)

- most economic opportunities (unskilled, low- paying factory jobs)

- convenience to transportation

b. sometimes faced hostility from nativists and other immigrant groups

c. Despite hardships, spirit of optimism among immigrants!

- worse conditions back where they came from

- provided more opportunities

- faith that life would better for the next generation

6. Ethnic Cities – allowed immigrants to adjust to US

a. often lived in neighborhoods

among members of their own

ethnic group separated from

other ethnic groups

(see pg 347)

= preserved their culture

b. Other factors that helped

Immigrants adjust to life in

the USA

- learned English quickly

- adapted to American culture

- they had marketable skills

- already had some $$$

Mulberry Street – New York City’s

“Little Italy” c 1900

Little Italy Today

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

Hester Street – Jewish Section

Pell St. - Chinatown, NYC

B. Asian Immigration

1. Push/Pull Factors behind Asian Immigration

Push Factors Pull Factors

CHINESE •High unemployment•Poverty•Famine •Taiping Rebellion 1850 – against Chinese gov’t – 20 million dead – thousands flee to US

JAPANESE•Industrialization/empire building caused hardships

•Discovery of Gold in CA•Jobs with Central Pacific RR (Transcontinental RR)•Few immigration restrictions

2. Angel Island

a. Modeled after New York’s Ellis Island

b. point of entry for the majority of Asian immigrants

In America, we are all immigrants – or children of

immigrants. Do you know where you came from – and when?

C. Resurgence of Nativism

1. Nativism

a. favoring the interests of native-born people over foreign born people and a desire to limit

immigration

b. 1840s-50s: focus on Irish

c. Late 1800s: focus on Asians, Jews, E. Eur.

d. Reasons for opposing immigration- feared influx of Catholics would give Catholic

Church too much power in US gov’t

- labor union opposition b/c immigrants work for low wages, become strikebreakers – undermine all efforts of unions to achieve higher pay, fewer working hrs, better working conditions

2. Anti-Immigrant Organizationsa. American Protective Assoc. - goal to stop Catholic immigration

b. Workingman’s Party of California – goal to stop Chinese immigration

3. Anti-immigration laws a. 1882 – immigration ban on convicts, paupers, mentally disabled + 50¢ tax

b. 1882-1902 – Chinese Exclusion Act – ban Chinese immigration & prevent Chinese already here from becoming citizens

Nativism Lives On……

Keppler Cartoon 1880

Keppler Cartoon 1893

II. Urbanization

Chicag

o

A. Americans Migrate to the City

1. Statistics

a. 1840: 131 US cities; 1900: 1700 US cities

b. Growth of old cities

2. Immigrants flock to city factoriesa. Lack $$ to buy farms

b. Lack education for higher-paying jobs

3. Standard of living better in USa. Work long hrs for low pay but….

b. Social Mobility

- Europe: rigid social class system

- US: accepted that all could rise in society – possible to move from working class to middle class

Struggling Immigrant Families

3. Rural Americans move to citiesa. More jobs, higher pay

b. More amenities: lights, running water, modern plumbing

c. More to do: museum, libraries, theaters

B. New Urban Environment

1. Skyscrapers

a. Thanks to steel, durable plate glass, elevators

b. Necessity: expensive/scarce land – build up, not out

c. NYC = most skyscrapers

c.

The FirstHome Insurance

Building, Chicago, IL

The Skyscraperbrought to you by…

steeldurable plate

glasselevators

2. Mass Transit

a. Horsecar 1890 = 70% urban traffic

So what’s the problem?• Horses deposited tons of feces and gallons of urine on the streets

every day (each horse = 24 lbs manure/day)• A horse could work only part of the day, but would eat all day • A horse car could run all day, but it would require many changes of

horses • A line's investment in horses could be wiped out by diseases like

the Great Epizootic of 1872. • Horses could not pull cars up steep hills • When they died, were left on streets to decompose

History of the Horsecar

b. Cable Cars

- Began in SF

- Pulled along tracks by underground cables

c. Electric Trolley Car – Frank J. Sprague

Electric Trolley Car

Cable Car

Late 19th century street congestion

d. Relieving Congestion on City Streets

- Chicago: Elevated Trains

- NYC, Boston: Subways

Chicago’s “EL”

NYC’s Subway

C. Separation by Class

1. High Society

a. wealthiest lived in fashionable districts in heart of cities

Palmer Castle, Chicago

Carnegie Mansion, NYC

Vanderbilt, Chateau, NYC

2. Middle Classa. Growing: Drs, lawyers, engineers,

managers, teachers, social workers, architects

b. Salaries 2x that of avg factory worker

c. Mass Transit allowed them to work in city

center and live outside in the “streetcar suburbs”

3. Working Classa. = majority of city dwellers

b. Many lived in tenements – dark, crowded multi-family apts

c. Kids sent to work in factories

d. Rented space to boarders

Tenement Slum Living

“Dumbell “ Tenement, NYC

“Dumbell “ Tenement

Airshaft of a dumbbell tenement, New York City, taken from the

roof, ca. 1900

Tenement Slum Living

Lodgers Huddled Together

D. Urban Problems

1. Hazards of City Life

a. crime & violence

- nativists blame crime increase on immigrants

- in reality, no significant difference in crime rate in immigrant community/native-born community

- most likely, the increase in minor/major crimes was due the rapid growth of

cities

b. fire!

- many wooden structures

- lacked technology in fire-fighting

The Great Chicago Fire

1871

c. disease and pollution

- improper sewage disposal (bad drinking water); overcrowding; garbage in the streets

– leads to cholera and typhoid fever

- horse waste left in streets

- smoke, soot, and ash from wood and coal burning fires from factories and homes

High Death Rates in late 19th century US cities

Deaths per 100,000Boston, New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphia

Tuberculosis Intestinal Disorders

Diphtheria Typhoid Typhus

Smallpox

1864-1888 365 299 123 66 531899-1913 223 196 58 19 25

What factors do you think contributed to a decline in urban death rates in the early 20th century?

2. Rise in Consumption of Alcohol

a. contributed to rise in crime rate

b. Jacob Riis’, How the Other Half Lives, documented affect of alcohol abuse

- saloons corrupted politics

- brought suffering to wives/children of drunkards

- corrupted children – sold to minors

Jacob Riis:

How the

Other Half Lives

(1890)

How the other half lives

c. led to the rise of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union

(WCTU) Temperance: the movement to reduce or eliminate

alcohol consumption

- headed by Frances Willard

- later leads to Prohibition (18th Amendment)

E. Urban Politics

1. Political Machine and the Party Boss

a. political machine: an organized group that controls a political party in a city and offers

services to voters and businesses in exchange for political and

financial support

- came into power b/c cities grew faster than city gov’t

- city dwellers needed housing, jobs etc

+ =

b. Party bosses (ran machines) - exchanged city services for VOTES

- thus, immigrant groups voted for political machines

2. Graft & Fraud – allowed party boss to control city finances

a. graft: obtaining $$ through dishonest or questionable means

1) accepted bribes for contracts

2) sold permits to friends to operate public facilities (RRs

3. Tammany Hall – NY Democratic Political Machine

a. led by the corrupt William M. “Boss” Tweed (sent to prison 1874)

b. Other city’s machines controlled city svc - including the police

William M. Tweed, known

as "Boss" Tweed, ran an efficient and

corrupt political machine based on patronage

and graft

4. Despite corruption: some positive contributions of political machines

a. provided necessary city services

b. Helped to assimilate immigrants to the cities

III. The Gilded Age

A. Characteristics of the Gilded Age1. Gilded Age: the era of late 1800s America characterized by a shining surface of prosperity

(great wealth, invention and growth of cities) covering the problems of corruption and

inequality

a. Gilded = gold on the outside, while inside made of cheaper

material

b. In US History, although this was a time of growth, beneath the surface were

corruption, poverty, and a huge gap btwn rich and poor

Corruption: the use of public office for private gain

2. Gilded Age Values, Forms of Art, Literature and Entertainment:

a. Values: Individualism: the belief that regardless of your background, you

could still rise in society (social mobility)

1) Could go as far talent, commitment and hard work take you

2) Horatio Alger – writer who expressed individualism

philosophy

- wrote “rags to riches” novels with theme of poor people going to the city and becoming successful

The ideology of success — the notion that anyone could make it with enough hard work

b. Gilded Age Art and Literature: Realism

Realism: an approach to literature, art, and theater that attempts to accurately portray things as they really are and holds that society will function best if left to itself

1) people portrayed in realistic situations instead of idealizing them as romantic artists had done

2) Thomas Eakins – paintings that depicted everyday living.

Famous for detailed lighting

The GrossClinic (1875)

by Thoma

s Eakins

The Agnew Clinic (1889)

by Thomas Eakins

3) Mark Twain wrote realistically about everyday life in the pre-

Civil War US – Huckleberry Finn

c. Theater and Pop Music in the Gilded Age:

1) Vaudeville

- combined music and dancing; animal acts, acrobats,

gymnasts, dancers in its performance

Vaudeville

2) Ragtime = pop music 1890s!

Ragtime: type of music with a strong rhythm and a lively melody with accented notes

- most famous composer: Scott Joplin

Mapleleaf Rag

3) Tin Pan Alley

- Piano sales up after Civil War + popularity of Vaudeville and Ragtime music = demand for sheet music up

- leads to rise of Tin Pan Alley = the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the US in the late 19th century and early 20th century - famous Tin Pan Alley songwriters: Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Scott Joplin, George Gershwin

3. Recreation and Entertainment in the Gilded Age: ($ left over after bills paid + shorter working

hrs = more time for leisure

a. Vaudeville Shows

b. The Saloon:

1) community and political center for male workers

2) offered free toilets, water for horses, free newspapers, free lunch etc

3) saloon keepers often served as key figures in political machines

scandalous! As Frank Wright of Chicago pointed out… Saloons outnumbered grocery stores!

The Saloon

“The Voting-Place.”During the 1840s and 1850s, anti-immigrant feelings grew amongst many native born whites. These “nativists” argued that immigrants caused many of the nation’s ills by rejecting “American” work habits, culture, and religion. Along with evangelical reformers, nativists especially objected to the undisciplined and sometimes violent atmosphere of working-class saloons. The saloons were the organizing centers for the reformers’ rivals, urban political machines like New York’s Tammany Hall.

c. Coney Island in NY = an amusement park that attracted working class families and single

adults

- offered amusements such as water slides and RR rides

Coney Island, NY

d. Sports = watching sports became popular

1) baseball appeared in 1830s

- 1st salaried team = Cincinnati Red Stockings 1869

2) football & basketball also rose in popularity

- football began in private colleges – later caught on in public colleges. The rest is history…

1st Harvard vs. Yale

football game Nov. 1875

B. Gilded Age Philosophies1. Social Darwinism

a. developed by Herbert Spencer who applied Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection and applied it to human society

b. The gist? In every activity, humans compete for success. The unfit or incompetent lose, the strong or competent win. The winners = natural upper class

- belief that society progressed and became better b/c the fittest (smartest, most-

talented, hardest-working) people succeeded

c. Social Darwinism parallels the Laissez- faire philosophy

- Poverty will always exist b/c the stronger members of society would triumph over the weaker members.

- Gov’t can’t fix it, so shouldn’t interfere

- some are destined for wealth and power, some for the opposite

d. Industrial leaders agreed with Social Darwinism

1) Justified monopolies

2) According to John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil), "the growth of

a large business is merely a survival of the fittest."The Richest American Ever

Rockefeller and the American Beauty Rose

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: "The American Beauty rose can be produced in all its splendor only by sacrificing the early buds that grow up around it."

2. The Gospel of Wealth

a. Andrew Carnegie (and other rich industrialists) supported both

Social Darwinism and Laissez-Faire, but he felt that those who profited from society should give something back

b. Gospel of Wealth: wealthy Americans were responsible to engage in

philanthropy, using great fortunes to further social progress and enhance the community

Andrew Carnegie and Philanthropy

In 1889, Carnegie presented the 7 "wisest" fields of philanthropy:

• Universities • Free libraries • Hospitals • Parks • Concert halls • Swimming baths • Church buildings

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Carnegie HallNYC

IV. Calls for Reform

A. Social Criticism – Some believed that society’s problems could be solved if Americans & the Government took a more active role in regulating the economy & those in need (contrary to Laissez-faire and Social Darwinism)1. Henry George on Progress & Poverty

a. Believed LAND was the key to wealth – people could get rich just waiting for

land prices to rise

b. Solution to poverty? TAX LAND!

- believed it would make society more = and provide gov’t with $$ to help the poor

2. Reform Darwinism ala Lester Frank Ward

a. Argued that humans are different from animals – could think, make plans,

produce future outcomes

b. People succeeded b/c of their ability to cooperate, rather than compete

c. Gov’t could regulate economy, cure poverty, promote education

better than competition could

3. Naturalism a. Naturalism: belief that nature can be

understood through scientific observation & that society functions best w/ some gov’t

intervention

b. Believed some people were caught in circumstances they couldn’t control

– thus, gov’t should regulate the economy in some form

B. Helping the Urban Poor1. The Social Gospel

a. Believed that competition was the cause of many social problems causing good people to behave badly

1) against unregulated free enterprise

2) against child labor

3) supported safer working conditions

4) supported Temperance movement

b. Worked to better conditions in cities according to biblical ideas of charity & justice

c. Inspired many churches to expand their missions

d. Churches took on community functions designed to reduce human suffering and

improve society (gyms, day care,)

2. Salvation Army & YMCA: Social Gospel in Action

a. Salvation Army

- military style org combining religion, faith & interest in

reform

- combined practical aid & religious counseling to the urban poor

b. YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Assoc.)

- tried to help industrial workers & the urban poor by providing Bible

studies, citizenship training, grp activities (gyms, pools, libraries, low-cost hotel rooms)

YMCA

3. Settlement Houses

a. Jane Addams

b. Hull House: middle class citizens lived & helped poor residents, mostly

immigrants

c. Provided programs such as medical care, recreation, English classes, hot

lunch

C. Public Education1. Public School crucial to success of immigrant

children

a. Americanization: children learned American culture

Americanization: causing someone to acquire American traits and characteristics

b. Kids learned English, US History, responsibilities of citizenship, work

ethic, values

c. Who’s left out of improvements in public education? Rural Americans and

Black Americans

- leader of black education movement? Booker T. Washington. Founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama 1881

2. Education for the Workplace

a. Public schools help immigrants assimilate

b. Prepare future workers for jobs

- grammar school: focus on attendance, neatness, efficiency

- Vo-tech programs High Schools: teach skills required in specific trades

3. Expanding Higher Education

a. Morrill Land Grant Act

- $$ to states to build A & M Colleges

- college enrollment increases

b. Higher Education for women

- opening of pvt women’s colleges: Vassar,Wellesley etc

- women’s campus’ added to existing campus: Harvard, Columbia

4. Public Libraries

a. Provided free education to city dwellers

b. Andrew Carnegie funded construction of libraries across the US

- believed knowledge was the key to getting ahead in life

Knowledge is Power! Now go study for that test!