1. Urbanization and the Lure of the City

2. City Problems and Machine Politics

GILDED

GILDED

GILDING

Urbanization Growth of

cities due to industrialization◦Labor and

markets1900 40%

Urban population

1920 50+%

Changes in CitiesExpansion

outwardStreetcars and

transportation◦Trolleys, railroads,

early subways◦Commute

Beginnings of suburbs, segregated workers by income

The ‘BurbsUpper and middle class escape

from city lifeFactors:

◦Abundant cheap land◦Cheap transportation◦Cheap construction◦Ethnic and racial prejudice◦Privacy/individual homes

Frederick Law Olmstead

1900 – suburbs in every major city

World’s first suburban nation

SkyscrapersExpansion

upward1885 –

Home Insurance in Chicago, first with a steel skeleton (10 stories)

Wainwright BuildingLouis

Sullivan – St. Louis 1890 (10 stories)

Carson Pririe Scott BuildingLouis

Sullivan, Chicago, 1899 (12 stories)

ALICO BuildingRoy Lane,

Waco, 1910 (22 stories)

Private city versus public cityAt first, no call for services from

government. Cities didn't keep up with the waste, pollution, disease, crime, and other hazards

Advocates had to convince citizens and governments to purify water, build sewage systems, waste disposal, police, zoning, etc.

City LifeEthnic

Neighborhoods◦Culture, newspapers,

cuisine, languageTenements

◦Crowded inner-city houses, often one room

◦Up to 4000 people/block

◦NYC window law Ventilation shafts

◦Led to rampant disease

Water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

All that plus 36% beef. Thirty-six percent—plus all the above making up for the other 64% of the party in your mouth.

According to the USDA, they can't call their mixture "beef" at all. Beef is defined by the USDA as "flesh of cattle", and ground beef is defined as:

Chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders.

MACHINE POLITICS

CampaignsElections close. Split electoral

and popular voteCongress and President dividedParty identity and loyalty

PatronagePolitics about gaining office,

holding office, and providing jobs to faithful

Tammany Hall – NYC run by Boss Tweed

Issue 1: Civil Service ReformJames Garfield – Beset by job

seekers. Charles Guiteau shoots him in the back

Pendleton Civil Service Act (1881) – applicants took a test to qualify for jobs

Civil servants couldn’t make political contributions

Issue 2: CurrencyTo expand or not

expandHaves vs. Have notsDebtors, farmers,

entrepreneurs want expansion

Bankers, creditors, investors◦Increase in dollar’s

value by 300% 1865-1895

◦Gold standard

Greenback PartyMoney not backed by Specie like

in Civil WarDemands for silver money